BV  4211  .H67  1881 
Hoppin,  J.  M.  1820-1906 
Homiletics 


HOMILETICS 


By    JAMES    M.    HOPPIN 

PROFESSOR  IN  YALE  COLLEGE 


o5  Kol  iKafuaev  r/fiu?  diaKovovS  Kaivfji  dta^TjKTjS,  ov  ypdju/xaTO'i,  a/.Xa 
ifvivfiaToi'     TO  yup  jpd/ifia  aKOKrhvei,  to  61  nvev/j.a  i^uoTroiel. 

2  Corinthians  ? :  6, 


NEW  YORK 
DODD,    MEAD    &    COMPANY 

PlTHLISHERS 


Copyright,  i88r 
By  DODD.  mead  &  COMPANY. 


'PRO  PL 
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r<9 

THE  ILLUSTRIOUS  MEMORY 

OP 

DR.  AUGUST  NEANDER 

WHO 
BY  HIS  PROFOUND  GENIUS  AND  P'AST  LEARNING 

MA DE  TO  SPEA K  AGAIN 

THE  ANCIENT  PREACHERS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
CHURCH 

THIS    VOLUME    IS    LOVINGLY  INSCRIBED 

BY 

A    FORMER    PUPIL 


PREFACE   TO   THE    FIRST    EDITION. 


Truth,  born  of  God,  does  not  change  ;  but  the  forms 
in  which  it  is  apprehended,  and  its  modes  of  influencing 
the  mind,  are  continually  undergoing  development.  The 
old  gospel  contains  many  new  systems  of  theology, 
and  it  is  capable  of  producing  many  new  methods  of 
preaching. 

The  human  method  of  presenting  divine  truth  so  that 
it  may  be  received  to  the  welfare  of  the  soul,  must  be 
adapted  to  the  soul,  and  to  the  soul  of  an  age.  Preach- 
ing is  a  progressive  art,  and  in  this  aspect  it  is  worthy  of 
profound  study.  Preaching  has  not  lost  its  power  (as 
some  assert)  over  the  human  mind,  any  more  than  the 
gospel  has  lost  its  power,  for  truth  always  demands  an 
interpreter,  and  the  soul  always  yearns  for  a  teacher  in 
divine  things  ;  but  there  are  times,  when,  from  inexplica- 
ble causes,  preaching  passes  through  new  phases  and 
modifications,  and  in  that  process  of  transition  its  power 
is  obscured.  The  present  is  such  a  period.  This  is  con- 
fessedly an  unsettled  age  :  theories  of  society,  education, 
and  science  are  evolved  and  tested  with  astonishing  rap- 
idity ;  and  it  would  be  indeed  strange  if  preaching  did 
not  feel  the  influence  of  the  breath  that  has  come  over 
the  intellectual  world.  Much  that  is  merely  extrinsic 
and  conventional  must  disappear  ;  but  the  free  thought 
and  philosophic  culture  of  the  day  will,  in  the  end,  pass 


iv  PREFACE    TO    THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

into,  instead  of  diminishing,  the  power  of  preaching,  and 
Christianity  will  work  in  and  through  them  for  its  own 
higher  ends. 

The  preacher  cannot  hope  to  lead  and  guide  minds  if 
he  does  in  no  manner  comprehend  the  wants  of  an  ad- 
vancing age,  like  the  present,  which  is  one  of  real  inter- 
est, though  of  fearless  inquiry,  in  theological  questions, 
and  of  the  bold  reconstruction  of  religious  philosophies. 
The  preacher  can  no  longer  successfully  deal  in  dull 
learning  and  trite  ideas,  without  fresh  thought,  original 
and  conscientious  exegesis,  noble  and  true  literary  form, 
and,  above  all,  practical  earnestness  and  spiritual  life. 
Not  that  the  want  of  these  has  characterized  the  past 
age,  but  that  the  time  has  come  when  their  absence  is  a 
marked  deficiency. 

Still,  too  much  ought  not  to  be  made  of  the  intellec- 
tual aspects  of  the  subject,  important  as  they  are  ;  for, 
of  the  two  classes  into  which  Pascal  divided  preachers, 
into  those  who  belong  to  the  order  of  intellect,  and  those 
who  belong  to  the  order  of  love,  the  greatest  preachers, 
as  Pascal  thought  (among  whom  he  counted  Augustine), 
have  ever  been  of  the  latter  class  ;  for  to  love  God  is  the 
only  way  to  know  Him  and  to  teach  Him.  Truly,  for 
one  to  be  a  great  preacher,  he  must  have  a  deep  and  per- 
vading enthusiasm  ;  he  must  have  an  inward  harmony 
WMth  the  object  which  interested  the  heart  of  Christ,  and 
in  which  every  selfish  feeling  is  absorbed  and  lost.  The 
main  impulse  of  the  preacher  must  be  from  within,  from 
sanctified  affections,  from  the  real  sympathy  of  his  soul 
with  God.  Thought  and  expression — the  profoundest 
thought  and  the  most  fit  expression — are  of  little  mo- 
ment, if  there  is  not  the  true,  glowing  heart  behind  them. 
Men,  indeed,  for  the  service  of  the  Christian  ministry, 
may  be  dwarfed  by  becoming  accomplished  scholars  and 


PREFACE    TO    THE  FIRST  EDITION.  V 

polished    orators,    if   they  are  not   also  rendered  large- 
hearted,  courageous,  spiritual,  consecrated  men. 

While  I  believe  that  divine  truth  should  be  presented 
to  men's  minds  in  fresh,  powerful,  and  beautiful  forms, 
no  less  so  than  should  scientific  and  literary  truth,  there 
are,  nevertheless,  certain  principles  of  preaching  which  do 
not  vary,  and  which  are  always  true,  for  "  the  church 
must  light  its  candle  at  the  old  lamp  ;"  and  an  endeavor 
has  been  made  in  the  following  pages  to  set  forth  some 
of  those  true  and  essential  principles. 

This  work  is  chiefly  designed  as  a  text-book  in  Homi- 
letics  and  Pastoral  Theology,  for  those  who  are  in  a  reg- 
ular course  of  training  for  the  Christian  ministry.  While 
I  hope  that  pastors  may  find  in  it  something  of  value  to 
themselves,  it  is  mainly  intended  to  be  used  by  theologi- 
cal students  in  the  class-room,  for  the  purpose  of  recita- 
tion ;  and  that  will  account  for  the  broken-up  and  analyt- 
ical style  of  the  work,  being  necessitated  by  the  treat- 
ment in  condensed,  rather  than  expanded  forms  of  dis- 
cussion of  so  many  and  varied  themes. 


I  have  had  another  aim  in  publishing  this  book  ;  and 
that  is,  to  free  myself  in  some  measure  from  the  routine 
of  lecturing,  and  to  secure  time  for  that  direct,  familiar, 
and  informal  method  of  instruction  which  is  peculiarly 
needed  in  treating  the  subject  of  preaching  with  begin- 
ners ;  and,  indeed,  I  have  meditated  upon  some  new 
methods  of  teaching  homiletics,  which  promise  at  least 
(though  the  result  may  not  prove  it)  to  be  of  a  more 
quickening  and  truly  philosophical  nature  than  those 
sometimes  pursued  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  I  fully  recog- 
nize the  necessity  of  a  systematic  course  of  training  in 
this  important  department.     "And  so  in  art  and  relig- 


vi  PREFACE    TO    THE   FIRST  EDITION. 

ion.  First  in  point  of  time,  submit  to  rules  ;  but  first  in 
point  of  importance — the  grand  aim,  indeed,  of  all  rules 
— rise  through  them  to  the  spirit  and  meaning  of  them. 
Write  that  upon  the  heart  and  be  free  ;  then  you  can  use 
a  maxim,  not  like  a  pedant,  but  like  an  artist,  not  like  a 
Pharisee,  but  like  a  Christian." 

Though  happily,  the  true  tendency  of  the  times  is  to 
the  real  unity  of  all  Christians  and  Christian  churches,  yet 
not  because  of  this  popular  current  (which  is  as  apt  to  be 
false  as  true),  but  from  deeply  cherished  convictions  on 
this  subject,  I  grow  ever  more  inclined  to  honor  the 
name  of  Christian  above  that  of  every  other  earthly 
name  ;  and  to  hold  the  one  "  holy  catholic  church" 
above  any  particular  portion  of  it,  however  loved  and 
deserving  of  love  ;  and  I  hope,  therefore,  that  nothing 
of  a  narrow  spirit  will  be  found  in  these  pages.  May  the 
time  be  hastened  when  each  section  of  the  Church  shall 
impart  to  every  other  freely  of  whatever  gift  or  portion 
of  truth  may  be  committed  to  its  keeping,  and  when  the 
Holy  Spirit  may  "  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in 
Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  on 
earth." 

In  the  second  part,  which  treats  of  Pastoral  Theology, 
I  have  not  intended  to  dictate  what  a  pastor  should  be, 
but  only  to  offer  friendly  suggestion  and  advice  to  young 
men  ;  thinking  that,  though  this  subject  is  to  a  great  ex- 
tent a  matter  of  personal  experience,  much  may  be  done 
to  prepare  candidates  for  the  ministry  for  their  pastoral 
work.  That  kind  of  preparation  has  been,  perhaps,  too 
much  neglected  heretofore  in  our  seminaries,  which  have 
laid  themselves  open  to  the  charge  of  rearing  scholars  (or 
attempting  to  do  so)  rather  than  pastors  ;  but  it  is  the 
pastoral  work  which  is  the  true  test  of  ministerial  charac- 
ter,    I  have  endeavored  to  set  forth  a  hig-h  ideal  of  this 


PREFACE    TO    THE  FIRST  EDITION.  VU 

character — that  though  no  aureole  surround  the  head  of 
the  true  Christian  pastor  and  preacher,  as  in  old  pictures, 
yet  that  sanctity  and  truth  should  crown  his  life  with  a 
heavenly  light  ;  and  that  to  the  work  of  saving  souls 
from  the  power  of  sin,  through  the  preaching  of  the 
Word,  the  rarest  faculties  of  mind,  heart,  and  spirit  may 
be  devoted.  If  the  counsels  herein  contained  shall  in 
the  slightest  degree  tend  to  produce  those  strong,  hardy, 
cross-bearing,  cheerful,  hopeful,  wise,  loving,  and  single- 
minded  pastors,  who  are  willing  to  labor  among  the  poor 
as  well  as  among  the  rich  and  the  educated,  who  are  will- 
ing to  go  anywhere,  and  to  do  anything  which  is  required 
for  the  highest  good  of  men,  such  pastors,  in  fine,  as 
Christ  would  bless  as  the  spiritual  guides  of  His  people 
into  a  nobler  life  in  Him,  that  result  would  be  the  great- 
est reward  I  could  ask. 

New  Haven,  Conn.,  May,  1869. 


PREFACE   TO   THE    REVISED    EDITION. 


This  work,  which  has  been  kindly  received  by  the 
public  and  honored  by  being  adopted  as  a  text-book  in 
several  theological  schools,  has  run  through  two  ordinary 
editions,  and  a  third  smaller  edition  ;  but  in  its  present 
form  it  is  greatly  enlarged,  and,  in  some  parts,  wholly  re- 
written. There  is  much  of  it  which  is  entirely  new.  In 
the  course  of  nearly  twenty  years  of  instruction  upon 
these  themes,  there  has  been  wrought,  naturally,  con- 
siderable modification  of  views.  Certain  aspects  of  truth, 
especially  as  regards  the  theory  of  preaching,  tending  to 
a  more  thoroughly  biblical  and  at  the  same  time  freer 
spiritual  expression,  have  presented  themselves.  There 
has  seemed  to  be  opened  a  profounder  philosophy  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  divine  mind  through  preaching,  that 
has  led  me  to  ponder  deeply  a  remark  made  to  me  by  the 
late  Dr.  Horace  Bushnell,  that  "  of  all  the  branches  of 
instruction  in  a  theological  seminary  he  should  prefer  that 
of  Homiletics  as  being  one  which  dealt  most  directly  with 
what  God  would  say  to  men" — as  if  he  had  said  that  this 
department  is  one  of  vital  importance,  that  it  is  the  con- 
summation and  test  of  the  other  departments,  that  it 
goes  to  the  root  of  things  and  nearest  the  spirit  and  work 
of  Christ  ;  and  which,  therefore,  should  not  be  conducted 
drily,  nor  technically,  nor  incidentally  by  being  left  to 
irregular  methods,  but  scientifically  in  the  best  sense  of 


X  PREFACE    TO    THE  REVISED  EDITION: 

the  word,  and  with  the  whole  energies  of  a  mind  studious 
of  Gdd's  teachings,  and  inspired  by  the  sagacity  of  a 
higher  Christian  wisdom  and  faith.  It  is  indeed  the  crown 
of  ministerial  education — the  preparation  of  men  for  the 
prophetic  ofifice. 

The  original  title  of  the  book  was  "The  Ofifice  and 
Work  of  the  Christian  Ministry;"  but  in  the  present 
edition  I  have  thought  best,  for  many  reasons,  to  treat 
the  whole  subject  in  two  separate  volumes,  each  of  them 
complete  in  itself,  so  that  this  first  volume  upon  "  Homi- 
letics"  will,  it  is  intended,  be  followed  by  another  upon 
"  Pastoral  Theology,"  thus  comprehending  the  two  prin- 
cipal themes  of  Practical  Theology. 

I  then  send  forth  this  book  once  more  with  the  earnest 
hope  that  it  may  be  of  aid  to  young  men  who  honestly 
give  their  strength  to  the  service  of  Christ  in  his  min- 
istry. 

New  Haven,  Conn.,  October  ist,  1881. 


CONTENTS. 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

PACE 

GREATNESS  OF  THE  WORK xv 


PART  FIRST. 
HOMILETICS  PROPER. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Sec.  I.  Literature  of  Homiletics  and  Rhetoric i 

Sec.  2.  Definition  of  Homiletical  Terms ^ 

1.  Homily ^ 

2.  Homiletics 9 

3.  Preaching 9 

4.  Sermon ^^ 


FIRST  DIVISION. 

HISTORY    OF   PREACHING. 

Sec.  3.  Introduction *3 

Sec.  4.  Pre-Apostolic  Preaching 19 


XU  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Sec.    5 .  Preaching  of  Christ  and  of  the  Apostles 27 

Sec.    6.   Preaching  in  the  first  two  Centuries  after  Christ 48 

Sec.    7.  Preaching  in  the  Third,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  Centuries 58 

Sec.    8.  Preaching  from  the  Sixth  Century  to  the  Reformation 114 

Sec.    9.  Preaching  in  the  Reformation  Period 140 

Sec.  id.  Preaching  in  different  Lands  since  the  Reformation 153 


SECOND    DIVISION. 

object  of  preaching. 

Sec.  II.  Object  and  Design  of  Preaching 243 

1.  Instruction 245 

2.  Persuasion 252 

3.  Edification 257 


THIRD    DIVISION. 

PREPARATION   FOR   COMPOSING   SERMON. 

Sec.  12.  Considerations  preparatory  to  the  Work  of  Preaching. . . .  261 

1.  Difficulties  of  Preaching 261 

2.  Faults  of  Preaching 266 

3.  Process  of  Composing  a  Sermon 276 


FOURTH  DIVISION. 

ANALYSIS  AND   COMPOSITION  OF   SERMON. 

Sec.  13.  The  Text 287 

Sec  14.  The  Introduction 334 

Sec.  15.  The  Explanation 353 

Sec.  16.  The  Proposition 368 

Sec.  17.  The  Division 380 

Sec.  18.  The  Development 398 

Sec.  19.  The  Conclusion 427 


CONTENTS.  XlU 

FIFTH  DIVISION. 

CLASSIFICATION    OF    SERMONS. 

PAGB 

Sec.  20.  Classification   of  Sermons    according   to  their  Treatment 

and  Form 444 

Sec.  21.  Classification  of  Sermons  according  to  their  Method  of 

Delivery 479 

1.  Written  Sermons 4S1 

2.  Memoriter  Preaching 49^ 

3.  Extempore  Preaching 497 


PART    SECOND. 
RHETORIC  APPLIED  TO  PREACHING. 


FIRST  DIVISION. 

GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF    RHETORIC. 

Sec.  22.  Definition  of  Rhetoric 526 

Sec.  23.  Uses  and  Sources  of  Rhetoric 54^ 

Sec.  24.  Use  of  Reasoning  to  the  Preacher 561 

Sec.  25.  Study  of  Language 5^3 

Sec.  26.  Taste  in  Preaching 612 

Sec.  27.  Rhetorical  Criticism 635 

Sec.  28.  Elocution 652 


SECOND  DIVISION. 

INVENTION. 


Sec.  29.  Definition  and  Sources  of  Invention 673 

Sec.  30.  Qualities  of  the  true  Subject 677 

I.   Unity  of  Subject  and  Object 677 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

2.  Originality 679 

3.  Christian  Truth 684 

(i.)  Christian  Doctrine 687 

(2.)  Christian  Morality 691 

(3.)  Christian  Experience 718 


THIRD  DIVISION. 

STYLE. 

Sec.  31.   Definition  of  Style 720 

Sec.  32.  Absolute  Properties  of  Style 724 

1.  Oral  Properties  of  Language 725 

2.  Grammatical  Properties  of  Language 730 

Sec.  33.  Relative  Properties  of  Style 733 

I.   Subjective:  as  depending  upon  the  speaker  himself.   734 

(i.)  Appropriate  Thought 734 

(2.)  Consecutive  Thought 736 

(3.)  Individuality 737 

Sec.  34.   Objective:  as  depending  upon  the  speaker  more  particu- 
larly in  his  relation  to  the  audience 739 

(i.)  Purity 740 

(2.)  Propriety • 749 

(3.)  Precision 75° 

(4.)  Perspicuity 75^ 

(5.)  Energy 773 

(6.)  Elegance 793 

Sec.  35.  Conclusion 797 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

Greatness  of  the  Work. 

Young  men  who  have  been  scientifically  educated,  and 
who  are  accustomed  to  look  at  questions  in  a  purely 
scientific  way,  on  coming  to  the  preparatory  studies  for 
the  Christian  ministry  are  sometimes  at  a  loss  to  know 
what  is  the  nature  of  their  duties,  and  how  to  classify 
themselves  and  their  work.  Their  work  cannot,  in  truth, 
be  classified.  It  does  not  come  directly  under  any  of  the 
sciences  ;  for  it  does  not  primarily  concern  knowledge, 
to  which  true  science  absolutely  belongs,  but  has  to  do, 
first  of  all,  with  those  things  that  belong  to  revelation 
and  form  the  object  of  faith.  These  are,  in  some  sense, 
indefinable.  The  sphere  of  the  preacher,  to  express  it  in 
general  terms,  is  man  in  his  moral  and  spiritual  relations 
to  God  ;  and  the  task  of  the  preacher  is  to  know  the  real 
grandeur  and  vast  extent  of  his  work,  and  yet  not  to  be 
discouraged  by  it. 

I.  The  greatness  of  the  preacher's  work  is  seen  in  that 
he  is  an  ambassador  of  God  to  man. 

If  the  New  Testament  contains  a  rule  of  faith  and  con- 
duct for  men,  essential  for  their  salvation,  we  should 
expect  to  find  in  the  same  record  that  contains  the  faith, 
the  appointed  means  of  its  ministration. 

We  could  not  conceive  of  God's  giving  a  revelation  of 
such  import  to  men  without  at  the  same  time  distinctly 


XVI  GENERAL   INTRODUCTION. 

ordaining  the  best  method  of  making  it  known  to  them. 
He  would  not  leave  this  to  loose,  uncertain  methods.  If 
no  regular  divine  agency  had  been  appointed  to  publish 
the  message  of  reconciliation  between  God  and  man,  we 
should  be  apt  to  think  that  God  is  not  in  earnest  in  this  ; 
or,  that  it  is  no  true  revelation.  If  there  be  a  word  of 
peace  from  the  higher  government  to  our  souls,  there 
would  be  also,  we  should  suppose,  a  permanent  embassy 
of  peace  established  in  the  foreign  government  of  an 
alienated  world.  God  could  have  converted  the  world 
by  the  preaching  of  Christ  ;  he  could  have  regenerated  it 
by  a  pure  act  of  power  ;  but  why  is  it  that  twenty  cen- 
turies have  passed,  and  but  a  fraction  of  the  earth  is 
Christian  ?  Is  it  not  because  God  sees  fit  to  commit  this 
work  to  men — to  involve  human  effort,  trial,  sympathy, 
responsibility,  in  this  circle  of  human  redemption  ? 

We  clearly  recognize  the  fact  that  all  Christians  are  in- 
volved in  this  circle  of  responsibility  to  win  souls  to  the 
subjection  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  we  claim  for  the 
ministry  no  exclusive  right  to  teach  or  to  work.  We  do 
not  forget  for  a  moment  that  there  is  no  essential  dis- 
tinction between  the  people  and  the  preacher  in  point  of 
responsibility.  The  preacher  is  but  one  of  the  people, 
as  a  captain  is  but  one  of  an  army,  whom  the  army  has 
chosen  out  of  its  own  body  to  perform  a  certain  duty. 
All  who  love  Christ  are  called  to  the  work  of  making  him 
known  ;  and  this  universal  duty  of  all  Christians  is  now 
better  understood  ;  or,  rather,  the  Church  is  returning  to 
this  primitive  idea  of  Christianity.  God  speed  the  prog- 
ress of  this  idea,  until  all  the  energy  and  working  talent 
of  the  Church,  of  whatever  kind,  shall  be  developed. 
We  are  no  sticklers  for  ministerial  prerogative  in  doing 
good.  The  minister  has  no  monopoly  in  preaching,  or 
praying,  or  working.     The  church  of  God  is  the  people 


GENERAL   INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

of  God,  and  not  the  ministry.  Still,  there  is  a  ministry 
of  the  gospel,  and  it  has  a  great  work  to  do,  which  other 
men  in  their  worldly  occupations  and  business  cannot  do 
so  well.  It  is  the  entire  consecration  of  some  to  the 
highest  good  of  others  and  of  all. 

Augustine  says  that  this  ministry  was  not  given  to 
angels,  because  then  "  human  nature  would  have  been 
degraded.  It  would  have  been  degraded  had  it  seemed 
as  if  God  would  not  communicate  his  word  by  man  to 
man.  The  love  which  binds  mankind  in  the  bond  of 
unity  would  have  no  means  of  fusing  dispositions,  so  to 
speak,  together,  and  placing  them  in  communion  with 
each  other,  if  men  were  not  to  be  taught  by  men." 

Yet  Augustine  himself  had  so  profound  a  conception  of 
the  greatness  and  responsibility  of  this  work  that  when 
the  eyes  of  the  Christian  world  were  fastened  on  him,  he 
would  go  to  no  assembly  or  council  which  could  ordain 
him  a  minister  ;  and  at  last,  when  almost  by  accident  he 
was  chosen  to  a  small  spiritual  charge,  he  received  it  with 
expressions  of  great  afifliction,  so  that  his  opposers  said 
he  was  troubled  because  so  small  a  place  had  been  given 
him.'  In  like  manner  Chrysostom,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
six,  could  not  possibly  be  persuaded  to  take  up  the  pub- 
lic service  of  the  ministry,  because  he  felt  his  unfitness 
for  it.' 

God,  in  other  things  also,  works  by  secondary  agencies 
— himself  the  originating  power  of  all  things,  and  yet  the 
only  invisible  One.  He  loves  to  hide  himself  in  his  in- 
strumentalities and  to  manifest  himself  through  them. 
He  who  made  the  light  before  he  collected  it  into  the 
sun,  and  hung  that  in  the  heavens  to  be  the  steady  reser- 


*  "  Aug.  Confessions,"  B.  XI.     See  also  Epist.  XXI.,  ad  Valerium. 
'  "  Neander's  Chrysostom,"  Eng.  ed.  p.  22. 


xviii  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

voir  and  distributer  of  the  light,  seems  to  prefer,  for  his 
own  wise  ends,  this  instrumental  method  of  working  ; 
and  we  should  therefore  expect,  in  the  revelation  of  a 
new  Faith  from  the  skies,  the  simultaneous  ordaining  of 
special  agencies  to  make  known  this  new  message  of  truth 
and  life. 

We  actually  do  find  in  the  Scriptures  of  God's  revealed 
will,  this  work  of  making  known  his  word  committed  to 
the  human  instrument.  As  Christ  gave  the  bread  to  his 
disciples  to  be  distributed  to  the  famishing  multitudes, 
so  God  distributes  the  bread  of  life  to  men  through  the 
hands  of  his  believing  children  and  ministers  ;  they  are 
not  priests,  but  ministers  ;  they  are  not  mediators,  but 
simply  servants. 

Acts  20  :  28.  "  Take  heed  therefore  unto  yourselves, 
and  to  all  the  flock  over  the  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath 
made  you  overseers,  to  feed  the  church  of  God."  2  Cor. 
5  :  18.  "  And  all  things  are  of  God,  who  hath  reconciled 
us  to  himself  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  hath  given  to  us  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation."  Col.  4:  17.  "And  say  to 
Archippus,  Take  heed  to  the  ministry  which  thou  hast 
received  in  the  Lord,  that  thou  fulfil  it."  Tit.  i  :  3. 
"  But  hath  in  due  times  manifested  his  word  through 
preaching  which  is  committed  unto  me,  according  to  the 
commandment  of  God  our  Saviour."  The  Gospel  is  a 
word,  even  as  Christ  is  the  Word.  He  was  the  perfect 
expression  of  God's  nature.  In  his  preaching,  character, 
life,  and  death,  he  spoke  the  word  of  God  ;  and  he  com- 
missions his  preachers  to  continue  to  speak  this  word. 
One  of  the  most  extraordinary  passages  in  the  Bible, 
fitted  to  fill  every  Christian  preacher's  mind  with  awe,  is 
that  contained  in  2  Cor.  5  :  20,  "  Now  then  we  are  am- 
bassadors for  Christ,  as  though  God  did  beseech  you  by 
us  :  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  xix 

God."  True  preachers  (and  of  these  we  speak)  arc  here 
made  to  stand  in  loco  Christi ;  they  not  only  testify  of 
Christ,  but  they  represent  him  ;  they  continue  his  work 
in  his  spirit  and  power  ;  they  are  clothed  in  his  repre- 
sentative authority.  As  ministers  of  Christ  they  exhibit 
both  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  man.  In  the  gospel 
which  they  announce,  setting  forth  the  way  of  union  by 
faith,  and  bringing  God  into  sinful  humanity,  they  sustain 
and  carry  on  the  blessed  "ministry  of  reconciliation." 
And  so  long  as  they  truly  love  God  and  man,  God  speaks 
purely  and  powerfully  through  them  to  men  ;  they  per- 
suade men  to  love  God,  even  as  they  love  him  ;  they 
give  God's  invitations  from  hearts  stirred  by  his  love  ; 
they  hold  forth  the  means  of  a  divine  life  ;  they  stand 
half  in  the  light  of  heaven  and  half  of  earth  ;  they  are, 
not  physically  nor  officially,  but  morally,  instruments  of 
converting  men  to  God  ;  they  do  not  effect  conver- 
sion, but  they  are  the  means  of  its  production  ;  they  use 
the  truth  to  produce  it,  taking  the  Bible  out  of  the  dead 
letter,  and  making  it  a  living  word. 

While  they  thus  speak  his  word,  and  manifest  his  spirit 
and  his  love,  they  are  the  living  ambassadors  of  God  as 
truly  as  were  Elijah  and  Elisha,  Paul  and  John  ;  and  no 
man  may  despise  them,  for  they  speak  with  a  divine 
authority — they  speak  the  word  of  God  to  man.  "  If 
any  man  speak,  let  him  speak  as  the  oracles  of  God." 
God  said  to  an  ancient  preacher,  "  Be  not  afraid  of  their 
faces  ;  for  I  am  with  thee,  to  deliver  thee,  saith  the 
Lord.  Thou,  therefore,  gird  up  thy  loins,  and  arise,  and 
speak  unto  them  all  that  I  commancj  thee  :  be  not  dis- 
mayed at  their  faces."  This  sense  of  his  divine  commis- 
sion is  indeed  the  preacher's  strength.  He  centres  him- 
self in  God.  He  speaks  out  of  the  consciousness  of 
God's  choice  of  him,  and  of  God's  will  expressed  through 


XX  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

him  ;  and  here  is  the  source  of  his  eloquence.  The 
moment  he  loses  this  divine  presence,  and  is  conscious 
that  he  is  delivering  his  own  message,  that  he  is  speaking 
a  human  word,  he  becomes  an  ordinary  man,  an  "  earthen 
vessel"  indeed. 

This  whole  subject  of  the  divine  appointment  of  the 
ministry  will  be  treated  more  thoroughly  when  we  come 
to  speak  of  the  Pastoral  Ofifice  ;  but  it  is  a  good  oppor- 
tunity here,  though  not  rightly  belonging  to  the  intro- 
duction, to  say  a  single  word  on  this  mooted  point  of  the 
preacher's  authority,  as  one  who  speaks  the  word  of  God. 
As  a  practical  matter,  young  preachers  find  this  trouble 
— that  they  have  the  feeling  often  that  many  in  their 
audience  do  not  receive  the  Bible  with  the  reverent  faith 
that  they  do  themselves  ;  and  they  think,  therefore,  that 
they  cannot,  like  the  lawyer  at  the  bar,  point  them  to 
the  word  of  God  as  final  authority,  saying,  "  This  is  the 
law  on  the  subject,  this  is  the  statute,  this  settles  the 
question."  In  answer  to  this  we  would  say  that  the 
preacher  has  a  right,  or,  to  put  it  stronger,  is  compelled 
to  take  for  granted  two  things.  First,  that  the  Bible  is 
the  word  of  God,  and  therefore  is  final  in  its  authority. 
This  he  must  do  to  have  a  right  to  preach  at  all  ;  here  is 
his  own  commission.  Christianity  is,  above  all,  a  word, 
the  word  of  God.  He  should  preach  as  if  he  believed 
this  ;  and  here  he  finds  his  authority  for  what  he  says, 
and  here  is  his  standing-point  to  heave  the  minds  of  men 
from  their  deep-rooted  sinfulness  and  sensuality.  And 
he  has  to  assume,  secondly,  that  the  audience  before  him 
do  also  believe  that  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God,  and 
that  they  may  be  spoken  and  appealed  to  as  those  who 
believe  this.  If  the  audience  is  composed  of  professed 
believers,  as  at  the  communion-table,  the  dif^culty  van- 
ishes.    If  the  audience   is  a  common  mixed  one,  com- 


GENERAL   INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

posed  of  believers  and  unbelievers,  still  the  unbelieving 
portion  put  themselves  in  the  position  of  believers  by 
coming  to  the  house  of  God  to  hear  the  gospel  preached. 
They  know  that  it  is  the  house  of  God,  where  the  Bible 
is  preached  as  the  word  of  God.  There  are,  in  any  case, 
few  in  our  congregations  on  the  Lord's  day  who  do  not 
yield  an  outward  respect  to  the  Bible  as  the  revealed 
word  of  God.  Even  a  sceptical  writer  like  Strauss  con- 
cedes the  historical  value  of  a  great  portion  of  the  Bible, 
and  the  value  also  of  the  religion  which  Christ,  who  he 
believed  actually  did  live,  taught.  At  all  events  there 
will  not,  probably,  be  one  in  the  audience  who  does  not 
believe  in  a  God  ;  and  if  one  does  believe  in  a  God,  he 
must  also  believe  that  God  has  created  him  and  cares  for 
him,  and  that  he  has  somewhere  or  somehow  expressed 
this  care  and  love  for  him.  The  preacher  then  has  a 
right  to  assume  that  the  Bible  is  that  good  word  and 
message  of  God  to  man  ;  for  if  it  is  not,  where  can  such 
a  word  be  found  ? 

The  apostles,  when  they  preached  to  pure  heathens 
and  infidels,  planted  themselves  on  the  simple  word  of 
God,  and  they  appealed  to  the  primary  laws  of  God 
written  in  the  conscience  to  confirm  what  they  spoke.  It 
was  "  by  manifestation  of  the  truth  to  every  man's  con- 
science in  the  sight  of  God,"  that  they  preached.  The 
authority  of  the  word  of  God  was  final  with  the  apostles, 
while  at  the  same  time  they  cast  themselves  upon  men's 
reason  and  consciousness  to  confirm  the  word  preached. 
The  apostles'  preaching  was  thus  both  authoritative  and 
persuasive.  "  Knowing  the  terror  of  the  Lord,  we  per- 
suade men."  "Abstain  from  fleshly  lusts  which  war 
against  the  soul  :"  here,  while  a  command  is  uttered,  a 
reason  is  also  given  ;  and  a  preacher  may  develop  this 
reason    to  any  extent,  and  show  how   inordinate  appe- 


xxu  GENERAL   INTRODUCTION. 

tites  injure  the  spiritual  nature.  Times,  it  is  true,  have 
changed,  and  the  authority  of  the  preacher  has  appar- 
ently diminished  ;  other  influences  have  now  come  in  to 
compete  with  the  pulpit  ;  and  the  preacher's  faith  and 
patience  are  tried  more  than  formerly  to  sustain  his 
heaven-delegated  authority  ;  but  he  should  plant  himself 
the  more  firmly  on  the  word  of  God.  He  should  awaken 
a  deeper  faith  in  his  people  in  that  word  which  "  en- 
dureth  forever, "  though  the  human  preacher  soon  van- 
ishes away.  In  the  struggle  between  the  authority  of 
divine  revelation  and  that  of  human  consciousness,  while 
Christianity  admits  both,  and  brings  both  to  utter  the 
same  thing,  it  founds  its  final  authority  on  the  will  of 
God  ;  and  here  the  preacher  should  stand,  where  Luther 
stood,  and  where  the  apostles  stood. 

2.  The  greatness  of  the  preacher's  work  is  seen  from 
the  nature  of  the  truths  with  which  he  deals.  These 
truths  may  be  generally  summed  up  under  the  one  name 
of  divinity.  "  And  what  is  divinity,"  says  Robert 
South,  "but  a  doctrine  treating  of  the  nature,  attri- 
butes, and  works  of  the  great  God,  as  he  stands  related 
to  rational  creatures,  and  the  way  how  rational  creatures 
may  serve,  worship,  and  enjoy  him  ?  And  if  so,  is  not 
the  subject  of  it  the  greatest,  and  the  design  and  busi- 
ness of  it  the  noblest,  in  the  world,  as  being  no  less  than 
to  direct  an  immortal  soul  to  its  endless  and  eternal 
felicity  ?  It  has  been  disputed  to  which  of  the  intel- 
lectual habits  mentioned  by  Aristotle  it  most  properly 
belongs  ;  some  referring  it  to  wisdom,  some  to  science, 
some  to  prudence,  and  some  compounding  it  of  several 
of  them  together  ;  but  those  seem  to  speak  most  to  the 
purpose  who  will  not  have  it  formally,  any  one  of  them, 
but  virtually,  and  in  an  eminent,  transcendent  manner, 
all.     And    now,  can   we   think   that  a  doctrine   of   that 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  xxiii 

depth,  that  height,  and  that  vast  compass,  grasping 
within  it  all  the  perfections  and  dimensions  of  human 
science,  does  not  worthily  claim  all  the  preparations 
whereby  the  wit  and  industry  of  man  can  fit  him  for  it  ? 
All  other  sciences  are  but  handmaids  to  divinity  ;  and 
shall  the  handmaid  be  richer  adorned  and  better  clothed 
and  set  off  than  her  mistress  ?  In  other  things  the  art 
usually  excels  the  matter,  and  the  ornament  we  bestow  is 
better  than  the  subject  we  bestow  it  upon  ;  but  here  we 
are  sure  that  we  have  such  a  subject  before  us  as  not  only 
calls  for,  but  commands,  and  not  only  commands,  but 
deserves  our  application  to  it  ;  a  subject  of  that  native, 
that  inherent  worth,  that  it  is  not  capable  of  any  addition 
to  it  from  us,  but  shines  both  through  and  above  all  the 
artificial  lustre  we  can  put  upon  it.  The  study  of  divinity 
is  indeed  difficult,  and  we  are  to  labor  hard  and  dig  deep 
for  it.  But  then  we  dig  in  a  golden  mine,  which  equally 
invites  and  rewards  our  labor."  '  South  says  again, 
"  For  I  reckon  upon  this  as  a  great  truth,  that  there  can 
be  no  endowment  in  the  soul  of  a  man  which  God  him- 
self is  the  cause  and  giver  of,  but  may,  even  in  its  highest 
and  choicest  operations,  be  sanctified  and  employed  in 
the  work  of  the  ministry."*  But  let  us  consider  this 
more  particularly.  The  high  and  difficult  nature  of  the 
truths  with  which  the  preacher  deals  appears  in  the  fact 
that  they  are  {ci)  metaphysical  truths.  The  preacher's 
work  is  necessarily  intellectual  ;  he  deals  with  men's 
minds  and  rational  nature  ;  he  must  adapt  the  divine 
word  to  the  human  mind  ;  he  must  know  how  to  inter- 
pret it  according  to  men's  intellectual  nature.  True 
preaching  is  addressed  first  to  the  intellect,  for  men  must 
know  the  truth  before  they  can  be  expected  to  obey  or 


'  "  South's  Sermons,"  Phil,  ed.,  vol.  ii.  p.  79,  '  Id.  p.  70. 


XXIV  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

love  it.  The  intellect,  conscience,  affections,  and  will 
are  so  blended  that  they  form  one  spiritual  nature,  and 
we  cannot  tell  where  are  the  lines  of  separation.  The 
importance  to  the  preacher  of  understanding  the  human 
mind  is  thus  spoken  of  by  Sir  William  Hamilton  : 
*'  Theology  is  not  independent  of  philosophy.  For  as 
God  only  exists  for  us  as  we  have  faculties  capable  of 
apprehending  his  existence,  and  of  fulfilling  his  behests, 
nay,  as  the  phenomena  from  which  we  are  warranted  to 
infer  his  being  are  wholly  mental,  the  examination  of 
these  faculties  and  of  these  phenomena  is  consequently 
the  primary  condition  of  every  sound  theology."  '  This 
must  be  so.  How  can  the  preacher  approach  the  mind 
God  has  made  with  the  truth  of  which  God  is  the  author, 
if  he  has  no  clear  conception  of  those  mental  laws  which 
affect  the  reception  of  truth,  which  turn  it  to  sweetness 
or  bitterness,  to  life  or  death  ?  How  can  he  reach  the 
conscience,  the  real  man  of  the  heart,  if  he  does  not  com- 
prehend the  relations  of  conscience  to  the  faculties  of 
knowledge  ?  How  can  he  influence  the  judgment  or 
sway  the  reason,  if  he  is  totally  untaught,  by  either  edu- 
cation or  observation,  in  the  great  principles  of  causality? 
Or  how  can  he  move  the  affections,  if  he  knows  nothing 
of  their  proper  place  in  the  mind,  and  what  and  where 
are  the  true  springs  to  touch  ?  Besides,  we  cannot  know 
God's  mind  if  we  do  not  understand  our  own.  We  rea- 
son from  our  own  nature  to  God's  nature.  All  reasoning 
upon  strictly  natural  theology  depends  upon  the  clear 
apprehension  of  metaphysical  axioms,  and  upon  a  sound 
philosophy.  Everything,  in  fact,  in  the  world  of  mind 
is  subservient  to  the  preacher's  work.  He  works  through 
ideas,   reasons,  motives,  penetrating  the  depths  of  the 


'  "  Metaphysics,"  p.  44. 


GENERAL   INTRODUCTION.  xxv 

mind.  The  first  preachers,  if  they  were  illiterate  men  at 
the  beginning,  became  learned  in  the  Scriptures,  in  the 
human  heart,  in  the  gift  of  tongues,  and  in  the  incom- 
parable instructions  and  impartations  of  Christ  and  his 
spirit.  Robert  South  has  a  characteristic  passage  which 
may  apply  here,  in  which  he  vents  his  scorn  against  un- 
learned persons  who  crept  into  the  ministry  during  the 
commonwealth,  some  of  them,  without  doubt,  better 
men  than  himself.  "  Many  rushed  into  the  ministry  as 
being  the  only  calling  they  could  profess  without  serving 
an  apprenticeship.  Had,  indeed,  the  old  Levitical 
hierarchy  still  continued,  in  which  it  was  part  of  the 
ministerial  office  to  flay  the  sacrifices,  to  cleanse  the  ves- 
sels, to  scour  the  flesh-forks,  to  sweep  the  temple,  and  to 
carry  the  filth  and  rubbish  to  the  brook  Kidron,  no  persons 
living  had  been  better  fitted  for  the  ministry,  and  to  serve 
in  this  nature  at  the  altar.  But  since  it  is  made  a  labor 
of  the  mind,  as  to  inform  men's  judgments  and  move 
their  affections,  to  resolve  difficult  places  of  Scripture,  to 
decide  and  clear  off  controversies,  I  cannot  see  how  to 
be  a  butcher,  scavenger,  or  any  such  trade,  does  at  all 
qualify  and  prepare  men  for  this  work.  We  have  had 
almost  all  sermons  full  of  gibes  and  scoffs  at  human  learn- 
ing. Hereupon  the  ignorant  have  taken  heart  to  venture 
upon  this  great  calling,  and  instead  of  cutting  their  way 
to  it  according  to  the  usual  course,  through  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  tongues,  the  study  of  philosophy,  school 
divinity,  the  fathers  and  councils,  they  have  taken 
another  and  shorter  cut,  and  having  read  perhaps  a 
treatise  or  two  upon  the  Heart,  the  Bruised  Reed, 
the  Crumbs  of  Comfort,  WoUebius  in  English,  and  some 
other  little  authors,  they  have  set  forth  as  accomplished 
divines,  and  forthwith  they  present  themselves  to  the 
service  ;  and  there  have  not  been  wanting  Jeroboams  as 


XXVI  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

willing  to  consecrate  and  receive  them  as  they  to  offer 
themselves."  South  was  not  a  believer  in  lay-preaching. 
Indeed,  in  view  of  the  greatness  of  the  work,  much  is  to 
be  said  on  both  sides  of  that  question,  and  there  may  be 
extreme  views  taken  on  either  side  which  are  injurious  to 
the  cause  of  truth  and  rehgion.  While  all  Christians 
should  "preach  the  gospel,"  and  many  an  unordained 
preacher,  like  the  great  lay-preacher  who  suffered  for  his 
boldness  twelve  years  in  Bedford  jail,  may  be  a  hundred 
fold  more  effective  than  one  who  is  regularly  appointed, 
yet  even  the  lay-preacher  should  be  fitted  for  the  work 
both  by  human  and  divine  preparation  ;  he  should  not 
be  a  "novice;"  he  should  be  "apt  to  teach."  The 
fitness  for  this  work,  in  fact,  lies  more  in  quality  than  in 
quantity.  But  there  are  also  ((^.)  moral  truths  with  which 
the  preacher  has  to  deal.  As  our  moral  nature  is  deeper 
than  our  intellectual,  so  the  preacher's  work,  which  has 
to  do  chiefly  with  moral  truth,  is  superior  to  all  merely 
intellectual  professions.  The  preacher  is  called  upon  to 
study  those  laws  of  God's  government  which  underlie  the 
whole  system  of  truth  ;  and  his  field  is  that  vast  moral 
system  which  God  has  opened  to  the  human  mind — that 
law  which  is  "  exceeding  broad  ;"  which  is  eternal  be- 
cause it  is  the  manifestation  of  God's  nature  ;  which  is 
perfect  because  it  is  the  expression  of  his  will  ;  which  is 
the  law  of  the  intelligent  universe,  one  and  simple  in 
essence,  but  infinitely  manifold  in  its  applications. 

To  harmonize  moral  truth  into  a  living  whole  is  the 
preacher's  work  ;  for  every  man  who  deserves  to  be  called 
"  a  preacher  of  righteousness"  should,  like  Bunyan  and 
Luther,  have  his  own  system  of  theology  ;  that  which  he 
has  himself  drawn  from  the  word,  and  which  he  preaches 
and  lives.  It  is  a  want  of  reverence  for  moral  truth  not 
to  strive,  by  one's  own  thought,  in  communion  with  the 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  xxvil 

divine  mind,  to  discover  the  laws  of  order,  arrangement, 
and  beauty  stamped  upon  it  ;  and  one  cannot  preach 
with  the  highest  clearness  and  power  who  does  not  pos- 
sess some  well-ordered  system  of  moral  truth  for  his 
groundwork  of  reasoning  and  appeal.  Moral  truth  has 
also  an  intimate  and  special  relation  to  man's  nature  and 
duty.  It  enters  the  complex  sphere  of  human  life,  and 
whatever  bears  directly  or  indirectly  upon  the  common 
good  of  humanity  belongs  to  the  preacher's  domain.  He 
deals  with  the  wonderful  world  of  the  human  heart,  its 
mixed  good  and  evil,  its  affections  that  are  so  tender,  its 
hate,  passion,  and  crime,  its  joy  and  despair,  its  hopes 
and  fears,  its  desires  that  are  never  satisfied  but  in  God. 
Nothing  is  shut  out  from  the  preacher  in  mind,  nature, 
morals,  letters,  art,  science,  government,  the  endless  rela- 
tions of  society  and  human  life,  which  influence  moral 
character,  and  enter  into  the  schooling  of  this  lower  life 
for  a  perfect  life  in  God  —  in  a  word,  that  human 
theology  concerning  which  Neander  loved  to  quote  the 
words,  "  Pcctiis  est  qiiod  facit  theologiim."  But  there  is  a 
still  higher  sphere  of  truth  to  which  the  preacher  must 
ascend.  He  deals  {c.)  with  spiritual  truths.  He  must 
rise  from  the  seen  to  the  unseen,  from  the  natural  to  the 
spiritual.  In  i  Cor.  4  :  i  it  is  written,  "  Let  a  man  so 
account  of  us,  as  of  the  ministers  of  Christ,  and  stewards 
of  the  mysteries  of  God."  In  Eph.  6  :  19  it  is  also 
written,  "  That  I  may  open  my  mouth  boldly,  to  make 
known  the  mystery  of  the  gospel."  In  these  passages, 
TO  ixvffti'ipiov  means  literally  a  secret,  a  thing  not  obvi- 
ous, not  explained,  or  not  explained  to  all,  and  perhaps 
impossible  to  be  known  by  human  reason  ;  for  there  is  a 
true  as  well  as  a  false  mysticism.  Vi net  says, "  Z^  bon 
mysticisme  est  la  manne  cacMe  des  verities  dvangeliqucs  ;  il 


xxviii  GENERAL   INTRODUCTION. 

fait  scntir  ce  que  ne  petit  pas  se  dire,  ce  que  V analyse  est 
impuissant  a  expliquer.''  ' 

In  divine  truth  there  is  that  which  is  obvious  and  that 
which  is  more  spiritual  and  hidden,  but  of  which  much 
may  be  known  by  the  spiritual  mind.  A  telescope  ap- 
plied to  the  heavens  brings  to  view  objects  which  for 
thousands  of  years  were  not  known  to  the  simple,  unaid- 
ed human  mind  ;  and  Christian  faith  is,  as  it  were,  the 
application  of  a  telescope  to  the  spiritual  firmament  ;  it 
reveals  things  "  hidden  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world."  Christian  faith  is  not  a  mere  continuation  or 
extension  of  natural  religion,  nor  is  it  a  system  of  re- 
ligious truth  which  may  be  reached  by,  or  is  on  a  level 
with,  our  natural  reason.  It  is  above  the  level  of  natural 
religion.  It  is  revealed  by  the  Spirit.  We  could,  of 
ourselves,  never  have  arrived  at  the  truth  of  Christ's  re- 
demptive work,  although  there  is  a  profound  preparation 
for  it  in  man's  history,  and  in  the  intimations  and  wants 
of  his  nature.  Now,  into  this  higher  sphere  of  revealed 
truth,  of  those  spiritual  verities  which  comprehend  the 
love  and  perfections  of  God  and  the  truths  of  eternal  life 
— the  whole  unseen  world  of  faith — the  preacher  of  Christ 
has  to  rise  by  the  steps  of  faith,  meditation,  and  prayer, 
so  that  he  may  become  the  interpreter  of  the  hidden 
things  of  God  ;  for  it  is  no  easy  or  common  thing  to 
"  rightly  divide  the  word  of  truth  ;"  it  shows  that  one 
has  himself  entered  into  it  and  apprehended  it.  It  pre- 
supposes something  more  than  scholarship,  viz.,  spiritual 
insight,  or  the  habit  of  communion  with  God  and  holy 
things.  To  be  the  guide;,  of  others  in  these  regions  of 
the  higher  truth,  one  must  have  had  some  true  inward 
experience  of  the  renewing  power  of  truth  ;  as  Tholuck 


'  "  Histoire  de  la  Predication  des  Reformes,"  etc.,  p.  624. 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION,  xxix 

says,  "  Truth  must  have  been  revealed  to  him  through 
the  divine  hght  of  the  cross  shining  upon  his  heart." 
Such  preaching  entering  into  hearts  by  "the  power  of 
the  spirit  of  Christ,"  comes  from  a  true  knowledge  of 
the  saving  and  purifying  power  of  the  grace  of  Christ  in 
the  heart. 

3.  The  greatness  of  the  preacher's  work  appears  from 
its  results.  These  would  be  seen  negatively  were  the 
pulpit  stricken  out  of  existence  ;  or  by  the  comparison  of 
Christian  lands  with  heathen  lands,  or  even  with  coun- 
tries where  the  pulpit  is  chiefly  an  engine  of  hierarchical 
and  political  power.  A  superior  condition  of  morality, 
education,  and  civilization  is  never  found  in  lands  where 
the  Christian  pulpit  is  not  found  ;  and  wherever,  even, 
the  pulpit  has  been  shorn  of  its  power,  there  is  to  be  seen 
a  corresponding  moral  deterioration  among  the  people. 
Chalmers  complained  of  the  "  dormancy  of  the  Scottish 
popular  mind,"  and  we  know  the  degraded  character  of 
J?  the  Scotch  pulpit  when  he  first  entered  public  life  ;  and 
this  same  dulness  and  moral  stupor  were  seen  across  the 
Tweed  in  the  popular  mind,  when  the  English  pulpit  had 
in  a  great  measure  lost  the  power  it  possessed  in  the  days 
of  Howe,  Owen,  Baxter,  Leighton.  The  quickening  in- 
fluence of  the  pulpit  upon  the  American  mind  is  too 
obvious  to  be  denied.  Daniel  Webster  said  that  he  first 
learned  how  to  reason  from  the  preaching  which  he  heard 
in  his  native  village.  Dr.  Wood,  the  minister  of  Bos- 
cawen,  fitted  him  for  college  ;  and  his  tribute  to  the 
American  ministry,  in  his  argument  on  the  Girard  Col- 
lege case,  is  a  proof  of  his  intense  convictions  on  this 
subject.  The  preacher  goes  deeper  than  the  book  in 
moulding  the  intellectual  habits  and  tastes  of  his  people  ; 
for  he  begins  earlier  than  the  author,  and  exercises  a 
more  vital  sway  upon  mind.     Almost  the  only  true  elo- 


XXX  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION, 

quence  that  now  reaches  the  popular  mind  in  Germany 
is  the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit  ;  and  where  are  the  men  in 
any  other  profession  who  may  be  compared  with  those 
spiritual  sovereigns  in  our  own  land,  who,  from  their 
thrones,  send  forth  a  life-giving,  shaping  influence  far 
around  them  ?  Some  of  the  views  of  such  a  theologian 
as  Dr.  Horace  Bushnell  may  be  considered  to  be  open  to 
attack  ;  but  his  stimulating  power  upon  American 
thought  will  not  soon  pass  away.  All  the  colleges  in  the 
land,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  owe  their  life  prin- 
cipally to  ministers  ;  and  how  many  a  young  man,  edu- 
cated at  college,  and  afterward  distinguished  for  great 
intellectual  attainments  and  wide  influence  among  men, 
was  sent  from  some  obscure  village  through  the  agency 
of  his  minister,  who  had  awaked  in  him  the  thirst  for 
knowledge  !  Many  of  our  cities  and  towns  were  founded 
by  ministers  in  the  wilderness  :  New  Haven  by  John 
Davenport  ;  Hartford  by  Thomas  Hooker  and  Samuel 
Stone  ;  Providence  by  Roger  Williams  ;  Salem  by  Fran- 
cis Higginson  ;  Cambridge  and  Dorchester  by  John 
Warham  ;  and  we  need  not  repeat  the  well-proved  fact, 
that  our  democratic  institutions  and  republican  form  of 
government  were  modelled  upon  the  practical  working 
systems  of  that  primitive  New  England  church  polity 
which  was  the  fruit  of  the  thought  and  wisdom  of 
these  minds.  The  intellectual,  social,  and  moral  influ- 
ence of  the  preacher  is  too  broad  a  theme  to  be  entered 
upon  in  these  introductory  remarks  ;  and  as  Oberlin,  in 
the  barren  Ban  de  la  Roche,  among  the  Vosges  Moun- 
tains, elevated  his  parish  in  a  physical  and  moral  scale 
of  being,  and  taught  them  how  to  make  roads  and  raise 
crops,  as  well  as  to  seek  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  so 
every  true  minister  raises  the  scale  of  being  about 
him.     He    forms   a  central    power  in  the  moral  world. 


GENERAL   INTRODUCTION.  xxxi 

Sitting  in  his  study,  or  standing  in  his  pulpit,  he  wields 
a  formative  influence  upon  public  opinion.  He  is  the 
guardian  of  public  virtue.  He  is  the  elect  champion  of 
the  law  of  righteousness,  as  well  as  of  the  law  of  love. 
Wrong  cannot  withstand  a  free  and  faithful  Christian  pul- 
pit. Every  form  of  vice — intemperance,  licentiousness, 
slander,  covetousness,  dishonesty,  law-breaking — feels  its 
restraining  hand.  The  importance  of  the  Christian  pul- 
pit is  comprehensively  shown  in  the  fact  that  it  so  effectu- 
ally resists  the  power  of  the  kingdom  of  evil  in  the 
world  ;  that  it  sets  itself  in  opposition  to  this  great  cur- 
rent ;  that  it  so  holds  the  passions  of  men  in  check  ; 
that  it  speaks  to  men  as  with  the  voice  of  God,  and  bids 
them  do  what  is  right,  and  not  do  what  is  wrong.  It  not 
only  resists  but  attacks  evil.  A  true  preacher  is  aggres- 
sive. He  has  taken  up  the  battle  for  truth.  He  assails 
the  power  of  evil  wherever  it  shows  itself,  and  seeks  it 
out  in  its  deepest  hiding-places.  In  the  reproof  of  sin  he 
is  terrible  as  Elijah  and  stern  as  Amos  ;  though  he  trusts 
more  to  the  gentleness  of  Christ,  and  to  "  the  still  small 
voice"  that  finds  its  way  to  the  heart. 

Yet  these  results  which  have  been  glanced  at  are  but 
the  incidental  and  almost  accidental  side-issues  and  over- 
flowings of  the  preacher's  work  ;  the  direct  fruits  of  his 
labors,  under  God,  are  inner  and  permanent,  being 
wrought  upon  the  soiil  itself.  His  work  tells  on  char- 
acter ;  and,  viewed  in  this  relation,  it  is  not  to  be  esti- 
mated by  gross  standards  ;  we  cannot  weigh  spiritual 
results  ;  faith,  hope,  joy,  holiness,  everlasting  life,  are 
incommensurable  in  quantity.  To  be  a  spiritual  counsel- 
lor and  consoler,  one  to  whom  men  turn  instinctively  in 
their  sorrow  for  strength,  for  Christian  consolation — 
what  office  so  blessed  !  To  speak  the  word  of  sympathy 
to  the  soul,  to  be  its  guide  through  the  darkness  and 


XXXll  GENERAL   INTRODUCTION. 

doubt  of  life,  and  to  conduct  it  to  the  gates  of  everlasting 
life — what  work  is  so  great  ?  He  who  can  say  of  a  single 
being,  "whom  I  have  begotten  in  the  gospel,"  has 
"  saved  a  soul  from  death,"  and  has  hid  an  innumerable 
and  ever-increasing  *'  multitude  of  sins."  One  soul,  that 
of  a  child,  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Saviour,  and 
shielded  from  the  evil  of  the  world,  is  a  result  which 
would  infinitely  more  than  outweigh  the  toils  and  suffer- 
ings of  a  whole  ministerial  life.  It  is  diflficult  to  make  a 
statement  like  this  look  natural  and  true,  although  so 
easy  to  make  it  ;  but  if  the  apostle  believed  what  he  de- 
clared, that  it  is  through  the  foolishness  of  preaching 
that  men  are  saved,  then  such  a  statement  is  true. 
What  words,  truly,  were  those  spoken  by  Christ  to  Paul 
at  his  conversion  !  "  Rise  and  stand  upon  thy  feet  :  fof 
I  have  appeared  unto  thee  for  this  purpose,  to  make  thee 
a  minister  and  a  witness  both  of  these  things  which  thou 
iiast  seen,  and  of  those  things  in  the  which  I  will  appear 
unto  thee  ;  delivering  thee  from  the  people  and  from  the 
Gentiles,  unto  whom  now  I  send  thee,  to  open  their 
eyes,  and  to  turn  them  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from 
the  power  of  Satan  unto  God,  that  they  may  receive 
forgiveness  of  sins  and  inheritance  among  them  which 
are  sanctified  by  faith  that  is  in  me." 

Does  not  Christ  say  these  words  to  every  true  preacher 
now  ?  and  if  not  only  the  enlightening  of  one  soul,  but 
of  hundreds  of  souls,  may  follow  his  labors,  how  can  he 
suf^ciently  magnify  the  greatness  of  his  work  ?  While 
Luther  was  still  a  monk,  he  was  urged  to  accept  the 
ofifice  of  "  Preacher  and  Doctor  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;" 
he  drew  back  with  terror.  "  Seek  one  more  worthy  of 
it,"  he  said  ;  but  when  the  vicar-general  pressed  it, 
Luther,  trembling,  declared  that  "  the  Holy  Spirit  could 
alone  make  a  Doctor  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;"  and  when 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  xxxiii 

at  last  constrained  to  accept  the  charge,  he  took  this 
simple  oath  :  "  I  swear  to  defend  manfully  the  truth  of 
the  gospel  ;"  as  if  this  were  all  he  could  do,  or  dared  to 
undertake,  and  that  God  must  do  the  rest.  The  earnest, 
homely  words  of  Philip  Henry,  on  the  day  of  his  ordina- 
tion, cannot  be  too  often  quoted  to  those  entering  the 
ministry  :  "  I  did  this  day  receive  so  much  honor  and 
work  as  ever  I  shall  know  what  to  do  with.  Lord  Jesus, 
proportion  supplies  accordingly." 

4.  The  greatness  and  dignity  of  the  preacher's  work 
are  seen  from  the  fact  that  Jesus  was  a  preacher.  It 
seems  strange  that  we  do  not,  as  a  general  thing,  seem 
to  think  of  the  Saviour  as  a  preacher,  nor  set  his  preach- 
ing before  us  as  a  model  for  our  own  ;  for  while  there 
may  be,  it  cannot  be  doubted,  a  profound  truth  in  this 
negative  sentiment  of  all  reverent  minds,  arising  from  the 
fact  that  our  Lord  is  above  all  human  comparison,  and 
also  in  the  blended  fact  that  our  Lord  furnished  the 
material  and  was  "  the  truth"  that  we,  as  preachers,  are 
to  use  and  proclaim,  as  in  another's  words  :  "  Thus  he 
spoke  to  them  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  and  when  he 
wielded  the  powers  of  his  kingdom,  they  felt  more  and 
more  that  he  governed  the  secret  heart  of  nature  and  of 
man  ;"  '  yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  if  we  take  the 
Saviour's  own  testimony  upon  this  point,  he  claimed  to 
be  a  preacher,  and  made  this  a  main  part  of  his  earthly 
work.  We  have  but  to  recall  the  scene  in  the  synagogue 
at  Nazareth,  where  he  applied  to  himself  Isaiah's  words, 
"The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath 
anointed  me,  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor,  he  hath 
sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliver- 
ance to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind, 


'  F.  D.  Maurice,  Theol.  Essays. 


xxxiv  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION. 

to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised,  to  preach  the  ac- 
ceptable year  of  the  Lord."  And  it  is  said  in  Matt. 
II  :  I,  "  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jesus  had  made  an 
end  of  commanding  his  twelve  disciples,  he  departed 
thence,  to  teach  and  preach  in  their  cities."  And  in 
Mark  i  :  38,  39,  "  And  he  said  unto  them,  Let  us  go  into 
the  next  towns,  that  I  may  preach  there  also  :  for  there- 
fore came  I  forth.  And  he  preached  in  their  synagogues 
throughout  all  Galilee."  The  power  of  Jesus'  preaching 
may  be  estimated  by  its  effects.  Great  multitudes  fol- 
lowed him.  He  drew  them  after  him  in  a  triumphal 
train  wherever  he  went.  The  Pharisees  said,  "  If  we  let 
him  alone,  all  the  people  will  believe  on  him  ;"  and  it 
was  from  his  deadly  enemies  that  the  remarkable  confes- 
sion came,  "  O,  sirs,  never  man  spake  as  this  man."  The 
fears,  hope,  love,  hate,  of  the  multitudes  who  thronged 
him  were  touched.  If  eloquence  consists  in  moving  the 
soul,  this  was  eloquence.  He  made  men  look  into  their 
hearts,  and  they  rushed  upon  him  to  destroy  him,  or  cast 
themselves  at  his  feet  to  adore  him.  He  swayed  men  at 
his  will.  He  made  men  look  to  him  for  help.  They 
brought  their  real  wants,  doubts,  and  sorrows  to  him. 
They  asked  him  questions  with  that  popular  instinct 
which,  in  some  sense,  is  the  voice  of  God,  because  it  is 
the  voice  of  nature,  perceiving  in  him  a  divine  truth,  see- 
ing that  he  was  a  true  teacher.  And  how  many  cases  are 
mentioned  in  the  Gospels  of  immediate  conversion  follow- 
ing his  words  !  The  more  remote  results  of  Christ's 
preaching  is  a  theme  beyond  the  power  of  imagination  to 
conceive  ;  for  the  few  recorded  discourses  and  words  of 
Christ  have  formed  the  staple  of  divine  truth  and  of  all 
true  preaching,  ever  since.  It  may  be  that  the  Occi- 
dental mind  demands  a  treatment  of  truth  different  from 
what  the  Oriental  requires,  and  that  the  ages  differ  ;  but 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION.  xxxv 

truth  is  the  same,  and  man's  mind  is  the  same  now  as 
then  ;  and  the  intrinsic  qualities  of  our  Lord's  preaching 
may  be  studied,  even  if  his  preaching  was  that  of  Om- 
niscience. The  dignity  and  greatness  of  the  preacher's 
work  is,  at  all  events,  confirmed  and  crowned  by  the  fact 
that  Jesus  was  anointed  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor. 


PART  FIRST. 

HOMILETICS     PROPER. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Sec.  I.  Literature  of  Homiletics  and  Rhetoric. 

The  object  of  this  section  is  not  to  give  to  the  student 
a  comprehensive  view  of  the  extensive  literature  of 
Homiletics,  but  only  to  present,  in  the  briefest  possible 
form  for  practical  uses,  the  names  of  some  valuable 
books  which  are  most  available  to  the  theological  stu- 
dent, and  to  the  ordinary  preacher  and  pastor  while 
actively  engaged  in  his  work,  by  the  faithful  study  of 
which  he  may  be  introduced  and  led  on  to  a  more 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  rich  field  of  homiletical 
literature. 

Among  ancient  classical  authors  upon  rhetoric,  there 
are  four  works  that  may   be   regarded    as   forming    the 
head-sources     of    knowledge    in    this    art, 
viewed  simply  as  an  art,  unconnected  with     ^^^j^^  ^^ 
its  specific  use  by  preachers  and  other  pro-      Rhetoric. 
fessional    speakers   and    writers ;    these  are 
Aristotle's  "Treatise  on  Rhetoric"  ('Ajv;/;  'PpropiHtji), 
Cicero's  "  De  Oratore,"  "  Quintilian's  Institutes"  (Insti- 
tutiones),  Horaces  "  De  Arte  Poetica." 


2  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

The  principles  of  eloquence,  or  the  art  of  influencing 
men  through  public  discourse,  drawn  from  nature  and 
illustrated  by  the  best  examples  of  oratory  in  the  most 
intellectual  nations  of  antiquity,  are  reduced  by  these 
writers  for  the  first  time,  and  one  might  say  for  all  time, 
to  something  like  a  science.  In  them  we  find  exempli- 
fied what  a  German  writer  calls,  ''die  waJire  Norm  der 
Attischcn  Beredsamkcit,"  or  that  true  law  of  eloquent  and 
persuasive  speech,  which  is  similar  in  all  ages  and  lands, 
since  humanity  everywhere  is  subject  to  the  same  in- 
tellectual laws,  and  swayed  by  the  same  moral  forces, 

Aristotle,  highly  condensed  and  obscurely  elementary, 
plants  the  seeds  which,  in  Quintilian,  bear  ripe  and 
noble  fruits.  Quintilian  has  not  been  surpassed  in 
ancient  or  modern  times  as  a  guide  in  oratory.  In  a 
word,  it  may  be  said  that  almost  all  that  has  been 
taught  on  the  subject  of  public  discourse  since  their  day 
is  but  a  reproduction  or  a  development  of  what  these  old 
masters  enunciated. 

The  eloquence  of  the  Christian  pulpit,  however,  pre- 
sents a  new  field,  which,  though  it  draws  from  the  com- 
mon principles  of  logic  and  rhetoric,  has  laws  of  its  own 
that  are  derived  from  higher  sources  than  any  human  art. 

Among  the  numerous  works  in  the  English  language 

upon    rhetoric   and    homiletics    may   be    mentioned    (for 

their  practical  qualities  and  uses)  Campbell's 

English       "  Philosophy  of  Rhetoric"  and  Campbell's 

or  son     "  Lectures  on  Pulpit  Eloquence;"  Whate- 
Rhetoric  and  ,,,,„,  ^„,  ...t^^.  , 

Homiletics      ^^      Elements  of  Rhetoric  ;     DeCjumceys 

Essay    on     Style  ;"    Herbert    Spencer's 

"  Essay  on   Style  ;"  Porter's   "  Lectures  on  Homiletics 

and  Preaching;"  Ripley's  "  Sacred  Rhetoric"  (containing 

Henry  Ware's  "  Hints  on  Extemporaneous  Preaching")  ; 

Zincke's  "  Duty  and  Discipline  of  Extemporary  Preach- 


IN  TROD  UC  TION.  3 

ii^g  5"  J-  W-  Alexander'  s  "  Thoughts  on  Preaching  ;" 
Moore's  "  Thoughts  on  Preaching  ;"  Kidder's  "  Treatise 
on  Homiletics  ;"  Shedd's  "  Homiletics  and  Pastoral 
Theology  ;"  Day's  "  Rhetoric"  and  Day's  "Art  of  Dis- 
course ;"  "Christian  Rhetoric,"  by  G.  W.  Hervey  ;' 
"  Principles  of  Rhetoric,"  by  A.  S.  Hill. 

An  additional  fruitful  source  of  homiletical  instruction 
is  found  in  English  sermon  literature,  especially  the 
sermons  of  Wyclif,  Hugh  Latimer,  John  Howe,  Robert 
South,  Isaac  Barrow,  Jeremy  Taylor,  Archbishop  Leigh- 
ton,  Archbishop  Tillotson,  John  Bunyan,  Richard  Bax- 
ter, Bishop  Butler,  •  Philip  Doddridge,  Robert  Hall, 
Thomas  Chalmers,  John  Wesley,  Henry  Melville,  J.  H. 
Newman,  F.  W.  Robertson,  Thomas  Binney,  Canon 
Mozley,  Canon  Liddon,  Jonathan  Edwards,  Dr.  Dwight, 
Dr.  Emmons,  Dr.  Channing,  John  M.  Mason,  Horace 
Bushnell,  and  Phillips  Brooks. 

Among  French  works  are  Vinet's  "  Homiletics,  or  the 
Theory  of   Preaching;"  Fenelon's  "Dialogues  on   Elo- 
quence ;"  Claude's   "  Essay   on   the    Com- 
position   of    a    Sermon  ;"   Abb6    Maury's 
**  Essai    sur    I'^loquence    de     la     chaire  ;" 
Athanase  Coquerel's  "  Observations  pratiques  sur  la  Pre- 
dication ;"  Monod"  "  On   the    Delivery  of   a  Sermon  ;" 


'  This  author's  design  deserves  special  notice  as  following  the  lead  of 
Rudolf  Stier  in  his  '*  Keryktik,"  and  Sikel  in  his  "  Halieutik,"  to  build 
up  a  system  of  sacred  rhetoric  entirely  on  the  biblical  side,  disregarding  to 
a  great  extent  the  rules  of  rhetoric,  and  seeking  for  power  to  work  upon 
the  souls  of  men  exclusively  in  the  divine  oracles,  and  by  studying  the 
methods  of  the  prophetic  and  apostolic  preachers.  It  is  an  interesting 
work,  perhaps  too  elaborate  for  practical  use,  but  worthy  of  study.  Its 
idea  of  "  inspirational  rhetoric"  was  a  favorite  one  of  Origen,  and  other 
great  preachers  of  past  ages,  who  did  not,  however,  call  it  (as  this  author 
does)  by  the  name  of  "  sub-inspiration,"  but  claimed  lor  it  an  essentially 
prophetic  character. 


4  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Bautain's  "  Art  of  Extempore  Speaking.'  Of  the  host 
of  illustrious  French  pulpit  orators  we  would  mention 
only  the  names  of  Bossuet,  Massillon,  Fenelon,  Bour- 
daloue,  Claude,  Saurin,  Alexandre  Vinet,  Lacordaire, 
Athanase  Coquerel,  the  brothers  Monod,  and  De  Pres- 
sens6. 

Among  the  more  common    and  well-known   German 

works,    are  Ammon's    "  Handbuch   der    Einleitung  zur 

Kanzelberedsamkeit  ;"  Palmer's  "  Evange- 

German       jj^^^^   Homiletik  ;"   Reinhard's   "  Briefe  ;" 
Works.  ,  , 

Schott  s  "Theorie  der  Beredsamkeit ;'    Mar- 

heinecke's  "Grundlageder  Homiletik  ;"  Henke's  "  Nach- 

gelassenen  Vorlesungen  iiber  Liturgik  und  Homiletik  ;" 

Hagenbach's  "  Liturgik  und  Homiletik  ;"   Rudolf  Stier's 

"  Grundriss   einer  Biblischen  Keryktik  ;"  Klein's  "  Die 

Beredsamkeit      des     Geistlichen  ;"     Theremin's     "  Die 

Beredsamkeit  eine  Tugend." 

Of  German  sermons,  among  those  specially  valuable  to 
the  student  and  preacher  may  be  named  the  sermons  of 
Tauler,  Luther,  Zwingli,  Mosheim,  ZoUikoffer,  Reinhard, 
Schleiermacher,  Nitzsch,  Jul.  Miiller,  and  Tholuck. 

To  the  above  brief  list  might  be  added  such  works  as 

Vinet's  "  Histoire  de  la  Predication  de  I'Eglise  Reformee 

de  France,  pendant  la  siecle  dix-septieme  ;" 

,,,    .  Paniel's    "  Pras^matische      Geschichte    der 

Works. 

Christlichen  Beredsamkeit  ;"   Ludwig  Stie- 

betz*  "  Zur  Geschichte  der  Predigt  in  der  Evangelischen 
Kirche  von  Mosheim  bis  auf  die  Gegenwart  ;"  Lentz' 
*'  Geschichte  der  Christlichen  Homiletik  ;"  Neander's 
"  Life  of  Chrysostom  ;"  Moule's  "  Christian  Oratory 
during  the  First  Five  Centuries  ;"  Neale's  "  Mediaeval 
Preachers  and  Preaching." 

Works  like  these,  giving  a  penetrative  and  empirical 
view  of    preaching,  enable    us    to    compare    the    great 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

preachers  of  the  different  historic  periods  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  and  to  note  the  similarity  in  diversity,  or 
the  common  quahties  which  belonged  to  them  all,  and 
which  constitute  their  main  sources  of  power  and  suc- 
cess. 

The  judicious  study,  also,  of  the  preachers  of  the  ancient 
Greek  and  Latin  churches  is   to   be  com- 
mended, as   forming  a  most  valuable  and,         *  "*  ^^ 

Literature, 
in  our  country,  a  comparatively  fresh  field 

of  sacred  eloquence,  as  well  as  of  theological  learning. 

Augustine,  in  his  treatise  "  De  Doctrina  Christiana," 
devotes  a  chapter  to  sacred  rhetoric  which  is  of  priceless 
worth.  The  discourses  of  Augustine  and  Chrysostom 
are,  incomparably,  the  most  important,  homiletically  con- 
sidered, of  all  patristic  sermons  and  writings  ;  and  when 
it  is  considered  that  some  five  hundred  and  ninety  ser- 
mons of  Augustine  are  extant,  and  that  through  their 
ancient  Latin  garb  the  fire  and  living  soul  of  the  true 
preacher  of  Christ  glow,  this  department  of  sermon  litera- 
ture is  by  no  means  to  be  overlooked.  It  is  a  garden 
rank  indeed  with  luxuriant  vegetation  and  useless  weeds, 
but  this  fact  shows  the  depth  of  the  original  soil  and  its 
proximity  to  the  primitive  springs  of  spiritual  life  and 
growth. 

To  this  list  the  best  modern  works  upon  the  study  of 

the  English  language,  such  as  those  of  Trench,  Alford, 

Max  Muller,    Marsh,  Craik,  and  Whitney, 

might  be  added  ;  and,  in  fact,  all  English     ^^'J'^  °° 

the  English 
literature    of   a   genuine    kind,    which    em-     Lanjruaee 

bodies  the  moral  power  and  vital  qualities 

of  the    English    tongue,    is   an    indirect    but    important 

auxiliary  to  homiletical  studies. 

In  the  most  comprehensive  treatises  upon  Pas- 
toral  Theology,  from   Chrysostom 's    "Treatise   on   the 


6  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Priesthood"  down    to    the    latest    modern    works    like 

_       . .         Van  Oosterzee's  "  Practical  Theology"  and 
Pre£icning^ 

treated  in     Otto's    "  Evangelische    Practische    Theolo- 
Works  on     gie,"  there  are  elaborate  discussions   upon 
Pastoral       the  subject  of  preaching,  because  this  sub- 
Theology,     jg^^.    jg    identical   with    a   minister's    entire 

work  and  influence. 

It  need   hardly  be   suggested   that  the  study  ^  of    the 

Scriptures — of     the     prophetical    writings,  which    were 

originally  bold  popular  addresses  ;  above  all 
The 
e    ..  of  our  Lord's  own  discourses  ;  of  the  apostle 

Scriptures.  '  ^ 

Paul's  orations  and  his  epistles,  which  are 
evidently  in  the  style  and  manner  of  his  accustomed 
earnest  speech  to  the  people — that  this  study  is  funda- 
mental in  a  homiletic  point  of  view.  Throughout  the 
Pauline  epistles  there  are  scattered  special  instructions  to 
preachers  which,  taken  together,  form  a  complete  system 
of  Pauline  homiletics,  being  in  fact  the  first  work,  and 
that  an  inspired  one,  upon  this  great  theme. 

Sec.   2.  Definition  of  Homiletical  Terms. 

Before  treating  the  practical  subject  of  Homiletics,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  define  some  of  the  more  familiar 
terms  that  are  in  constant  use  in  this  science. 

I.    Homily. — This  word  has  a  clearly  scriptural  origin. 

It  is  true  that  "  homily"  was  not  at    first,  in  the  New 

Testament  or  in  immediately  post-scriptu- 
Homily.  ,      .  .,.,.,  , 

ral  times,   identical  with  our  modern  term 

"  sermon.  '  It  was  more  nearly  assimilated  to  the  primi- 
tive meaning  of  "discourse,"  or  "conversation."  It 
implied  literally  "question  and  answer,"  and  thus  the 
familiar  address  or  discussion  of  truth  in  an  informal  con- 
versational way.  It  is  derived  from  ojutXoi,  meaning  a 
crowd,  whence  6/iiXeoo,  "to  be  in  company  with,"  "  to 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

have  intercourse  or  communion  with,"  as  in  Luke  24  :  14, 
15,  and  Acts  20:  11,  and  in  i  Cor.  15  :  33,  signifying 
"  converse,"  "  asking  and  answering  questions,"  whence 
the  interlocutory  address,  or  the  conversational  style  of 
address  upon  the  facts  of  Christ's  life  and  religion  among 
Gentiles  and  Jews,  and  especially  in  the  primitive  Chris- 
tian assemblies. 

Originally  it  was  doubtless  a  literal  answer  to  a  literal 
question.  The  "homily"  which  afterward  came  to  be 
the  Greek  term  in  the  Eastern  Church  for  public  address, 
or  preaching  upon  religious  themes,  and  which  long  con- 
tinued to  be  the  form  of  preaching  both  in  the  Eastern 
and  Western  Churches,  was,  subsequent  to  the  apostolic 
age,  a  simple  exposition  or  continuous  explanation  of 
the  passage  of  Scripture  read  in  the  sacred  assembly.  It 
consisted  almost  entirely  of  explanation,  and  had  little  of 
the  character  of  a  formal  oration.  Thus  we  see  that 
"  homily,"  having  a  scriptural  origin,  grew  to  be  the 
term,  and  more  than  that,  with  some  considerable  modi- 
fication, the  idea  of  the  "sermon,"  as  we  use  it.  But 
still  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  (and  this  is  an  important 
fact  which  looks  toward  the  biblical  intention,  simplifica- 
tion, and  rectification  of  preaching)  that  the  "  homily," 
as  originally  found  and  employed  in  the  early  times  of 
the  Church,  differs  in  some  marked  respects  from  the 
modern  "  sermon."     Vinet  says  : 

"  If  the  homily  is  not  as  greatly  different  from  the 
ordinary  sermon  as  we  commonly  suppose,  it  has  yet  a 
character  of  its  own.  This  character  belongs  to  it  not 
only  from  its  having  to  do  most  frequently  with  recitals, 
or  from  any  familiarity  peculiar  to  this  kind  of  discourse, 
but  rather  from  this,  that  its  chief  business,  its  principal 
object,  is  to  set  in  rehef  the  successive  parts  of  an  ex- 
tended text,  subordinating  them  to  its  contour,  its  acci- 


8  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

dents,  its  chances,  if  we  may  so  speak,  more  than  can  be 
done  in  the  sermon,  properly  so  called. 

"  Nothing  distinguishes,  essentially,  the  homily  from 
the  sermon,  except  the  comparative  predominance  of 
analysis,  in  other  terms,  the  prevalence  of  explanation 
over  system."  ' 

In  fact,  the  "  homily"  is  the  simpler,  older,  and  more 
scriptural  method  of  preaching,  or  of  the  continuous  ex- 
position of  the  truths  and  facts  of  the  gospel,  springing 
up  at  first  in  a  most  natural  way  in  the  congregations  of 
Christian  believers,  and  then  developing  into  something 
of  a  systematic  nature. 

In  order  to  make  this  description  of  the  "  homily" 
complete,  it  would  be  necessaiy  to  add  that,  ecclesiasti- 
cally, the  "  homily"  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  peculiar 
form  of  "  sermon,"  chiefly  expository,  being  an  explana- 
tion of  shorter  or  longer  passages  of  Scripture  prepared 
to  be  read  in  the  public  assemblies  for  worship. 

The  earliest  "  homilies"  known  are  those  of  Origen, 
and  the  "  Clementine  Homilies,"  the  last  being  of  later 
date.  The  "  homilies"  of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Chry- 
sostom,  Augustine,  Athanasius,  Gregory  the  Great,  and 
other  fathers,  are  strictly  expositions  of  Scripture,  and 
sometimes  are  of  great  value. 

In  mediaeval  ages,  "  Homilaria,"  or  books  of  homilies, 
were  widely  circulated  among  the  clergy.  The  "Homi- 
laria" of  Paulus  Diaconus  is  well  known.  The  "  Festi- 
vale"  or  "  Liber  Festivalis, "  was  also  such  a  collection, 
and  was  printed  by  Caxton  in  1482.  The  "  Homilies" 
issued  in  the  reigns  of  Edward  VI.  and  Queen  Elizabeth, 
and  afterward  those  published  from  time  to  time  by  the 
authority   of   the    Established   Church   of  England,   are 


'  "  Homiletics"  (Am.  ed.,  Skinner's  trans.),  p.  148. 


introduction:  9 

familiar  examples.  But  it  is  to  be  observed  that  even 
in  this  strictly  ecclesastical  and  technical  use  of  the  word, 
the  idea  is  chiefly  that  of  exposition,  the  homily  being, 
in  fact,  a  brief  expository  sermon. 

2.  Homiletics. — This  word,   derived   from   "homily," 

but  taking  a  broader  meaning,  as  comprehending  in  one 

term    the    whole    subject    and    science    of 

1  •  t  r  ,         ,1-         11  -1        Homiletics. 

preaching,  or  of  formal  public  address  in  the 

pulpit  of  an  organized  Christian  Church,  may  be  thus  de- 
fined :  Homiletics  is  the  science  that  teaches  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  public  discourse  as  applied  to  the 
proclamation  and  teaching  of  divine  truth  in  regular 
assemblies  gathered  for  the  purpose  of  Christian  worship. 
It  does  not  concern  private,  but  it  does  apply  to  public 
discourse,  for  the  purpose  of  instruction,  renewal,  and 
edification  in  divine  truth.  It  does  not  have  reference 
to  a  discourse  of  an  informal  and  accidental  character,  but 
it  is  that  which  is  connected  with  the  regular  worship  of 
God  in  the  stated  assemblies  of  the  Christian  Church. 

3.  Preaching. — This  also  is  a  scriptural  term,  and  its 
true  meaning  must  therefore  be  sought  for  chiefly  in  the 
Bible.     Although  HrjpvaGoo,  or  Krjpvy^a^  is 

the  word  commonly  employed  for  "  preach- 
ing"  in  the  New  Testament,  there  are  other  words  which 
are   used   for  the  same   general  purpose,  such  as  evay- 
yeXi^oj,  KaTayyeXXoj^  diaXeyo/uai,  XaXeco. 

The  uses  and  meanings  of  these  different  terms,  so 
nearly  identical,  and  which,  in  comparatively  few  cases, 
together  and  severally,  might  be  made  to  signify  what 
we  now  generally  mean  by  the  term  "  preaching,"  have 
been  thus  comprehensively  summed  up  : 

AaXtco  probably  meant  no  more  than  colloquial  or 
household  instruction,  as  in  Mark  2  :  2. 

AiaXiyoj^ai^  as  the  word  imports,  may  have  been  open 


lO  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

discussions  with  opponents,  or  a  kind  of  dialectic  dis- 
course after  the  Socratic  manner  ;  though  in  Acts  20  :  7 
we  have  the  word  applied  to  what  would  seem  to  have 
been  an  approximation  to  our  modern  sermon. 

The  two  words  rendered  "  to  preach,"  which  are 
found  most  frequently,  are  evayyiXic^oo  and  KyjpvGffco. 
"  Each  of  these,  in  various  forms,  occurs  upward  of  fifty 
times,  and  must  be  allowed  to  describe  a  teaching  which 
should  be  both  public  in  its  character  and  duly  author- 
ized {K7fpv5)  in  the  manner  of  proclaiming  it."  ' 

While  this  last  remark  is  true,  that  the  H))pv^  was 
commonly  an  authorized,  or  well-recognized  "herald," 
yet  the  term  "  preaching"  is  evidently  used  in  the  New 
Testament  in  the  most  general  sense,  as  signifying  a  her- 
alding in  every  manner  and  mode  of  the  word  of  God  to 
man,  to  one  man  as  well  as  to  the  people. 

Preaching  thus  is  not  necessarily  a  popular  address,  or 
a  regular  discourse  in  a  regular  assembly,  but  may  be  ap- 
plied to  all  kinds  of  "  proclaiming"  or  "  publishing"  of 
Christian  truth  in  whatever  way,  in  private  conversation, 
in  the  interviews  of  missionaries  with  the  heathen,  in  the 
addresses  of  evangelists,  in  the  common  intercourse  of 
men,  in  the  daily  life  and  example  of  believers — in  fact,  it 
is  making  known  in  any  and  every  effectual  way,  by 
one's  conduct,  precept,  or  personality,  the  message  of 
God  to  men. 

Thus  our  Saviour  preached  not  only  in  the  synagogue 
but  by  the  wayside,  in  the  conversation  by  the  well,  on 
the  mountain  and  in  the  household,  at  the  table,  upon 
the  walk  through  the  fields,  by  word,  look,  action,  and 
life,  "  Preaching"  is  thus  a  more  comprehensive  term 
than  "  homily"  or  "  sermon." 


'  Moore's  "  Thoughts  on  Preaching,"  p.  6. 


IN  TR  OD  UC  TION.  1 1 

4.  Sermon. — The  Latin  word  "jrrrwt',"  signifying  "dis- 
course, "  "  discoursing  or  talking' '  with  one,  and  which  also 

orit^-inally  implied  question  and  answer,  and       „ 

°         "^         ^  ^  .  Sermon, 

the  fact  of  an  audience  whose  questions  are 

real  or  implied,  is,  indeed,  as  near  an  equivalent  to  the 
biblical  Greek  word  o/ztA/o',  or  "homily,"  as  could  well 
be  found  ;  but,  as  has  been  seen,  it  somewhat  differs  from 
it.  It  does,  in  fact,  by  common  usage,  mean  a  more  fin- 
ished address,  a  more  formal  treatment  of  a  passage  of 
Scripture,  or  theme  suggested  by  such  a  passage,  than 
does  "homily,"  and  certainly  than  does  "preaching." 
It  im.plies  not  only  analysis  but  synthesis  ;  and  it  presup- 
poses a  set  discourse,  or  sacred  oration,  complete  in  its 
parts,  delivered  to  an  assembly  of  Christian  people 
brought  together  for  the  purpose  of  public  worship.  It 
is  a  deliberate  address  to  a  religious  assembly.  It  is  the 
familiar  "  homily"  become  or  grown  up  into  a  regular 
discourse  with  plan  and  method  ;  and  it  may  be  consid- 
ered to  be  in  some  measure,  in  these  later  days,  falsely 
formalized  and  stratified  into  the  rigid  shape  of  an  ora- 
tion artistically  viewed. 

But  this  stratifying  process  was  early  begun.  One  of 
the  Latin  fathers  writes  : 

Theologi  C/iristiani,  et  nominative  ex  veteribiis  Clirysos- 
toimis,  Basilius,  Macarius,  et  alii,  ofxikia^  vacant  sermones 
ad  coctiun  Jiabitos.     Atqiic  ita  op.ikia  ct  \oyo-,  differunt." 

The  "  sermon,"  however,  whether  it  be  scriptural  or 
unscriptural,  true  or  false,  in  its  form,  combines  the  sim- 
ple idea  of  "  preaching,"  or  publishing  the  word  of  God, 
or  the  more  familiar  idea  of  explanatory  address,  with 
the  idea  of  a  thoughtful,  even  philosophical  and  method- 
ized style  of  discourse  adapted  to  instruct  the  people  in 
divine  truth. 

Vinet's  definition  of  the  "  sermon"  is  excellent  ;  and 


12  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

we  could  adopt  it  as,  on  the  whole,  the  best  we  have  seen  : 
"  The  sermon  is  a  discourse  incorporated  with  public 
worship,  and  designed,  concurrently  or  alternately,"  to 
conduct  to  Christian  truth  one  who  has  not  yet  believed 
it,  or  to  explain  and  apply  it  to  those  who  admit  it."  ' 


"  Homiletics,"  p.  28. 


FIRST    DR'ISION. 

HISTORY   OF   PREACHING. 

Sec.  3.  Introduction. 

Inasmuch  as  the  spiritual  nature  of  man  is  the  highest 
measure  of  his  moral  and  intellectual,  and,  we  might  even 
say,  his  physical  being,  there  can  be  imag- 
ined no  standard  which  marks  so  delicately  preachim^  an 
and  truly  as  preaching  does  the  character  of  expression  of 
a  period,  since  preaching,  in  all  cases  where   the  spirit  of 
it  is  genuine,  is  one  of  the  most  appreciable       ^"  ^^^' 
expressions  of  the  purely  spiritual  in  man. 
Study    the    sermons    of    a  period    and    you  will    reach, 
as  nearly  as  can  be  done,  the  height  and    depth    of   the 
spirit    of  that    period.     The  preacher  can  rarely  go  far 
in    advance    of   or    remain    far    behind    the  intellectual 
and    moral    appreciation     of    the    people    to    whom    he 
preaches  ;  and   while  therefore  the  fundamental    truths 
or  principles   of  preaching    remain    the  same,  the    style 
of  preaching,  both  in    its   spirit    and    form,    becomes   a 
sure  though  ever-changing  index   of  the  varied  phases 
of  the  religious  life    of  great    Christian    epochs.      Have 
we  not,  then,  in  this  a  kind  of  guiding  law,  or  princi- 
ple, in  the  investigation  of    the  history    of    preaching  ; 
and    have    we    not    also    some    reason    to    believe    that 
preaching  in  all  its  varying  styles  and  methods  has  been 
providentially  guided    by   the  Spirit  of  God,  so  that  it 


14  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

shall  be  a  powerful  influence  in  the  world,  and  a  fit  in- 
strument of  divine  wisdom  for  the  highest  welfare  and 
advancement  of  every  age  of  the  Church  ? 

In  the  history  of  preaching  there  are  thus,  as  in  relig- 
ion itself,   the  permanent  and  variable  ele- 

Permanent    n^g^ts.      While    the    underlying    subject    of 
and  variable 

1       nts      preaching  is  the  same,  the  forms  in  which 

truth  is  appreciated,  and  its  modes  of  in- 
fluencing the  popular  mind,  are  constantly  undergoing  de- 
velopment ;  and  he  surely  is  the  preacher  best  fitted  to  in- 
fluence the  age  in  which  he  lives,  who,  while  sincerely  loyal 
to  the  truth,  is  still  intelligently  alive  to  the  influences  of 
the  time  of  which  he  forms  a  part  ;  and  as  a  necessary  cor- 
ollary to  this,  the  preacher's  own  responsibility  to  his  age 
is  great.  He  should  not  only  be  one  keenly 
A  preacher's  susceptible  to  the  outward   influences  of  his 

responsi  1 1  y  ^jj^gg^  y^^^  ^  higher  responsibility  still  is  laid 
to  his  O'wn 

aere  upon  him  to  exert  his  best  powers  to  go  be- 

neath the  surface  of  things,  to  study  the 
hidden  tendencies  of  thought  and  opinion,  to  discover 
those  deeper  causes  that  are  ever  at  work  in  the  spiritual 
world.  He  should  strive  to  come  at  the  elemental  forces 
which  originate  and  control  the  philosophy  as  well  as  his- 
tory of  his  age.  This  present  age,  whose  questions  go 
under  the  form  to  the  substance  of  truth,  is  an  age  in 
which  the  laity  are  well  educated  and  have  independent 
opinions,  and  are  not  disposed  to  take  their  creeds  sec- 
ond hand.  This  shows  that  the  time  is  one  transitional 
to  something  higher  and  better.  It  is  difficult  but  still 
it  is  good  to  live,  and  be  a  preacher  of  Christ,  in  such  a 
time.  Robert  Hall  said,  "  As  the  Christian  ministry  is 
established  for  the  instruction  of  men,  throughout  every 
age,  in  truth  and  holiness,  it  must  adapt  itself  to  the 
ever-shifting  scenes  of  the  moral  world,  and  stand  ready 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  iS 

to  repel  the  attacks  of  error,  under  whatever  form  it  may 
appear."  We  are  not  called  upon  as  preachers  to  fight  if- 
bodiless  ghosts  that  have  been  long  laid  to  rest,  but  liv- 
ing forms  and  powers  of  unbelief.  We  should  under- 
stand fairly  what  these  are.  There  are  problems  that 
trouble  this  age.  There  are  questions  in  regard  to  the 
adjustment  of  philosophy  and  inspiration,  science  and 
religion.  There  is  a  strong  and  unreconciled  strife  be- 
tween the  facts  of  human  consciousness  and  those  of 
supernaturally  revealed  religion.  In  this  thinking  age, 
can  the  preacher,  on  any  reasonable  grounds,  hope  to 
maintain  his  influence,  who  rests  back  on  antedated  or 
really  unlearned  and  superficial  systems  of  interpretation, 
w^ho  does  not  appreciate  the  deeper  spirit  of  critical 
research  that  prevails,  who  is  unsympathetic  with  the 
scientific  thought  of  his  times,  or  who,  intellectually, 
lags  behind  ? 

The  gospel  must  be  applied  to  the  mental  condition  ■+- 
and  actual  wants  of  men.  So  far  as  the  mere  form  of 
preaching  is  concerned,  he  who  would  now  preach  to  the 
people  in  the  childishly  allegorical  style  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  or  the  superlatively  theological  method  of  the  later  ^ 
scholastic  period,  or  even  the  quaintly  rigid  manner  of 
our  Puritan  fathers,  with  their  innumerable  topics  and 
endless  elaboration  of  method,  would  be  regarded  as  an 
obsolete  anomaly  ;  and  although  it  is  easy  to  pass  be- 
yond the  truth  here,  and  to  lay  down  a  wrong  principle 
from  over-statement,  yet  we  might  apply  the  remark  to 
the  age  of  the  reformers,  so  full  of  rude  polemic  theology 
as  well  as  of  the  energy  of  faith  ;  we  might  even  extend  it 
to  the  apostolical  age,  for  Christ  may  be  preached  under 
varying  forms,  and  with  new  styles  of  argumentation  and 
new  clothing  of  words  and  illustration,  and  it  would  be 
Jesus  Christ,  "  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever." 


l6  .  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

The  preaching  also  of  eveiy  man  differs,  or  should  do 

so,  from  that  of  every  other  man.      He  speaks  out  of  his 

personal  knowledge  of  Christ,  or  he  will  not 
^  Personality.  ,      .    ^  . 

greatly  influence  men  and  his  times.      God 

tells  a  man  to  preach  the  gospel  according  to  the  concep- 
tion of  his  own  soul — as  Christ  is  to  him  and  has  been  to 
him  in  the  truest  experiences  of  life,  and  through  the 
channels  of  his  own  nature  and  power  of  expression. 
One  man  will  address  with  more  force  the  intellectual 
side,  the  other  the  emotional.  John  did  not  preach  like 
James,  nor  Chrysostom  like  Augustine,  nor  Luther  like 
Melancthon.  Each  knew  something  of  the  love  of 
Christ,  and  each  had  obtained  some  partial  though  true 
view  of  the  whole  system  of  truth.  The  personality  of 
the  preacher,  if  he  is  a  genuine  man,  is  transfused  by  the 
divine  spirit  of  the  word  which  he  preaches,  but  not 
destroyed.  Every  true  man  speaks  as  he  is  taught,  not 
of  men,  but  of  Christ. 

While  this  truth  of  the  importance  of  the  principle  of 
adaptation  is  to   be  duly  considered,   it    should   not  be 

Invariable     Pressed  beyond  its  real  value.      The  preacher 
element       may  easily  overestimate  it,  and  become  sub- 

the  most      servient  to  the  phenomenal  and  regardless 

important.  ^^  ^j^^  essential.  He  thus  tends  to  the  sen- 
sational and  superficial.  He  may  seek  only  to  interest 
rather  than  rectify  and  save.  The  permanent  element  in 
preaching  which  is  founded  upon  the  absolute  laws  of  be- 
ing and  the  moral  constitution  of  the  universe,  is,  after  all, 
its  great  power.  This  is  not  to  be  lost  sight  of,  like  the 
v^,  everlasting  stars  to  the  mariner.  The  relations  of  the 
moral  being  of  man  to  the  government  of  God  and  the 
intimate  revelation  of  the  divine  nature  in  the  work  and 
spirit  of  Christ,  the  principles  of  righteousness  and  love 
which  come  from  these,  form  the  groundwork  of  all  true 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHI-KG.  I? 

preaching  in  every  age.  They  lend  strength,  authority, 
and  assured  success  to  the  message  of  God  to  humanity 
through  the  voice  of  the  living  preacher.  They  speak  to 
the  nature  of  every  man,  whatever  his  position  or  educa- 
tion. As  a  being  who  has  a  conscience,  and  who  is  made 
for  better  things  than  the  pursuit  of  selfish  happiness, 
who  is  capable  of  sin  and  at  the  same  time  capable  of 
holiness,  who  is  created  for  all  that  is  implied  in  the 
name  of  God— he  will  and  must  respond  to  the  laws  of 
moral  being  in  whose  environment  he  is  irresistibly  estab- 
lished. The  preacher  should  partake  in  some  measure  of 
the  unchangeable  character  of  those  divine  principles 
upon  which  the  kingdom  of  God  itself  is  founded.  Then 
he  becomes  a  truly  apostolic  preacher. 

When  we  thus  study  the  permanent  and  the  change- 
able elements  in  preaching,  its  philosophy,  and  its  practi- 
cal adaptation  to  the  wants  of  humanity,  we  find  that 
the  history  of  preaching,  becomes  a  most  valuable  study  in 
its  living  lessons  to  the  preacher  in  his  own  great  art  ; 
revealing  to  him,  if  he  reads  it  aright,  the  secret  of  divine 
influence  upon  mind,  and  of  the  application  of  human 
thought  and  skill  directed  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

But  we  see  also  that  to  carry  out  the  perfect  plan  of  a 
history  of  preaching  would  require  an  immense  sweep  of 
philosophical    investigation.     It  would    de- 
mand    an     examination     of    the    religious        What 

thought  and  life  of  different  periods  of  the      ^'^q^'^^ 
°  for  a 

Church  ;  of  the  progress  and  development  of     ^jstory  of 

religious  opinion,  and  the  genesis  of  creeds  ;     preaching, 
of  the  history  of  popular  morals  and  man- 
ners ;  of  the  systems  of  philosophy  that  have  been  domi- 
nant or  current  in  various  epochs  ;  of  the  contemporar>' 
secular  events  that  have  had  their  influence  upon  preach- 
ing, such  as  the  changes  of  government,  the  characteris- 


1 8  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

tic  phenomena  of  national  mind,  popular  education,  law, 
and  civilization  ;  and,  above  all,  of  the  homiletical  works 
and  the  particular  training,  under  the  providence  of  God, 
of  great  representative  preachers,  since  every  man  has 
been  shaped  for  his  work  by  that  Spirit  who  chooses  his 
instruments  with  consummate  skill.' 

The  history  of  preaching  forms,  in  fact,  an  essential  part 
of  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church — for  preaching  be- 
gan with  the  earliest  beginnings  of  Christianity,  and  was 
one  of  the  main  instrumentalities  of  its  growth  ;  and  it 
has  never  ceased  to  exert  a  shaping  influence  upon  Chris- 
tian life.  We  have  but  to  think  each  for  himself  of  his 
own  religious  experience,  in  order  to  recognize  the  vast 
power  over  his  own  spiritual  life,  which  has  been  exercised 
by  the  minds  of  preachers  with  whom  he  has  come  in 
contact.  They  have  from  our  infancy  moulded  our  inner 
nature  as  by  powerful  hands  into  the  forms  they  wear,  so 
that  it  is  difficult  for  us  ever  to  get  away  from  the  influ- 
ence of  these  teachers. 

Viewing  church  history  in  a  homiletical  light,  of  the 

earliest  ages  after  the  apostolic  age,  the  fourth  and  fiftJi 

centuries  form  the  richest  epoch  in  the  works 

_.       .  and  lives  of  great  preachers  of  the  Christian 

The  richest  _ 

and  the       Church  ;  while  the  first  three  centuries  sue- 
most  barren    ceeding  the  times  of  the  apostles  are  more 
ages  in       barren  in  the  materials  of  illustration.      The 
history  of     medieval  period,  when  sacerdotalism  almost 
killed  out  the  life  of  preaching,  though  ex- 
tremely   interesting    in    some    respects,     is 
greatly  wanting  in  the  substance  and  spirit  of  evangeli- 
cal preaching.     It  has  been  said  that  for  a  thousand  years, 
from  Augustine  to  Wyclif,  the  eloquence  of  the   pulpit 


'  Paniel's  "  Prag.  Gesch.,"  p.  4. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  19 

waned.  Though  this  is  too  sweeping  a  statement,  yet 
with  some  modifications  and  notable  exceptions  it  is 
lamentably  true  ;  and  not  until  the  period  of  the  Refor- 
mation, and  immediately  succeeding  it,  did  there  appear 
again  great,  original,  apostolic  preachers.  With  the  aids 
of  ecclesiastical  history,  of  references  to  the  writings  and 
sermons  of  eminent  preachers,  and  of  the  works  of  ap- 
proved writers  upon  Christian  eloquence,  we  shall 
endeavor  to  give  a  rapid  survey  of  the  history  of  preach- 
ing from  the  earliest  beginnings  to  the  present  time, 
sketching  some  of  the  principal  preachers  in  the  light  of 
models  more  or  less  to  be  imitated,  and  endeavoring  to 
arrive  at  their  sources  of  power  as  instruments  in  the 
hand  of  God  of  interpreting  his  truth,  and  of  guiding 
souls  into  the  kingdom  of  his  Son.' 

Sec.   4.  Prc-apostolic  Preaching. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  race,  notwithstanding  its  de- 
cadence from  perfect  holiness,  there  has  ever  been  a  com- 
munication maintained  between  the  Creator  and  his  crea- 
tures. His  Spirit  has  always  spoken  to  men  and  striven 
with  them.  He  has  never  left  himself  without  a  witness 
of  his  truth.  There  has  been  a  revelation  of  the  divine 
will  both  to  the  consciousness  and  the  reason  of  men,  that 
has  been  interpreted,  conveyed,  and  enforced  principally 
through  an  intelligent  and  independent  though  super- 
naturally  guided   human    agency.     The  interpreters    of 


'  The  author  would  acknowledge  his  obligations  especially  to  Paniel's 
Ceschichie  der  Christlichen  Beredsamkeit  for  assistance  derived  in  the 
history  of  the  five  first  centuries  of  Christian  preaching.  He  has  not 
only  followed  the  general  order  of  this  author  in  discussing  topics,  but 
also  sometimes  quoted  his  words.  This,  whenever  done,  has  been 
noted. 


20  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

the  will  and  word  of  God,  sometimes  interpreting  more 
darkly  and  sometimes  more  clearly,  we  may  freely  call 
"  preachers,"  for  they  heralded  God's  truth  to  men. 
Righteous  Noah,  early  in  the  life  of  humanity,  but 
after  the  world  had  lapsed  from  the  knowledge  of 
God,  is  thus  called  (2  Peter  2  :  5)  dtxaioGvvyi  Jo'jpvKa, 
"a  preacher  of  righteousness."  He  proclaimed  the 
righteous  will  of  God  to  an  evil  generation.  Moses, 
who  could  lead  an  exodus,  and  free  men  from  the  yoke 
of  political  servitude,  who  was  essentially  a  statesman 
and  organizer,  felt  himself,  on  the  other  hand,  un- 
equal to  the  task  of  teaching  divine  truth  by  public  ad- 
dress, being  "  slow  of  speech  and  slow  of  tongue,"  and 
transferred  that  office  to  Aaron. 

In  Jehoshaphat's  time  we  read  (2  Chron.  17:9)  of 
those  "  who  taught  in  Judah,  and  had  the  book  of  the 
law  with  them,  and  went  throughout  the  cities  of  Judah 
and  taught  the  people." 

The  "prophets"  of  the  Old  Testament  are,  above  all, 
noticeable  in  this  regard  ;  who  resembled,  far  more  than 

Proohets  ^^^  "  P^'i^sts"  of  that  dispensation,  the 
of  the  preachers  of  the  Christian  Church  ;  they 
Old  Testa-  were  the  real  teachers  of  the  people  in  the 
"'^"*-        ways  of  God. 

"  Schools    of    the    prophets"   were    established    very 

early  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish  nation.     In  these  were 

gathered  young  men,  who  were  instructed  for 

Schools      ^j^g  office  which  they  were  afterward  to   fill, 

,    ,         so  that  from  the  time  of  the  prophet  Sam- 
prophets.  ^     ^ 

uel  to  the  closing  of  the  canon  of  the  Old 
Testament  there  seems  never  to  have  been  wanting  men 
for  the  prophetic  office.  Their  chief  study  was  the  divine 
law  and  its  interpretation,  the  oral  as  distinct  from  the 
ceremonial  law. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  2i 

The  functions  of  the  prophet,  as  thus  trained  in  these 
schools,  were  more  specifically  : 

1.  Moral  instruction,  especially  that  of  messengers  sent 
directly  from  God  to  men  with  messages  of  righteousness. 

2.  The  recording  of  inspiration,  or  of  what  God  taught 
them  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  ;  and  we  are  chiefly  in- 
debted to  them  for  the  word  of  God  comprised  in  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures. 

3.  Sacred  music  and  poetry,  which  were  made  the  vehi- 
cle of  inspiration  for  the  instruction  of  the  people.' 

These  schools  were  at  Gibeah  and  Ramah  ;  at  Gilgal, 
under  Elisha  ;  and  at  Bethel,  Jericho,  and  Mount 
Ephraim.  The  number  of  students  in  these  institutions 
are  spoken  of  in  2  Kings  4:43  and  2  Kings  2  :  16. 
Their  method  of  support,  poverty,  and  self-denial  are 
described  in  2  Kings  6:1-7;  2  Kings  4  :  38-44. 

These  institutions  had  no  invested  funds,  nor  perma- 
nent sources  of  supply,  but  the  scholars  depended  on 
temporary  aid  and  even  upon  miracles  for  their  main- 
tenance. Their  instruction  in  music  and  the  spirit  of 
prophecy,  and  the  relations  of  music  to  prophesying,  are 
delineated  in  i  Sam.  10  :  5,  6  ;  19  :  18-24  ;  i  Chron. 
25  :  I,  3,  6  ;    13  :8  ;   2  Sam.  6:5. 

Their  culture,  to  enable  them  to  become  the  annalists 
of  the  religious  history  of  the  nation,  and  the  recorders 
of  revelation,  was  an  important  though  subsidiary  quali- 
fication to  the  prophetic  gift. 

The    most    ancient    meaning     of     the     Hebrew    word 

"  prophet,"'  in  its  earliest  use  in   the  Bible, 

is  not  so  much  ' '  foreteller' '  as  "spokesman, ' '    ^^^"*"S  o' 
< (  •  > >  "  prophet." 

or       mterpreter.        The   Hebrew    verb  n:::, 

"  to  prophecy,"   means  literally   "  to  bubble   up  like  a 
spring." 

'  See  Cowles's  "Hebrew  History,"  p.  iii,  seq. 


23  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

The  prophet  was  a  God-filled  man,  pouring  irrepressi- 
bly  forth  the  declarations  of  God. 

IIpocp}]ri]i  in  classical  Greek  is  "  one  who  speaks  for 
another,"  especially  one  who  speaks  under  supernatural 
influence,  and  so  interprets  the  will  of  his  God, 

In  the  true  prophet  God  speaks  directly,  disregarding 
regular  forms  and  channels.  In  him  the  moral,  the  spir- 
itual, the  divine,  prevailed  over  the  ritual  element.  He 
interpreted  the  divine  law.  Being  filled  by  its  potency, 
he  was  forced  to  utter  its  commands.  He  is  called,  in  so 
many  words,  a  "  preacher  ;"  thus  the  denunciation  of 
Jonah  against  Nineveh  is  spoken  of  in  Matt.  12  :  41  as 
TO  Kifpvyfxa  loova—ihQ  preaching  of  Jonah, 

When  the  priesthood  degenerated,  the  prophet  ap- 
peared in  order  to  teach  men  ;  and  the  prophetic  order 
of  teachers  was  as  truly  recognized  and  established  as  the 
priestly  order. 

The  prophets  sprang,  as  a  common  rule,  from  the 
people,  but  they  belonged  to  no  class  or  caste,  and 
princes  and  nobles  as  well  as  shepherds  and  tillers  of 
the  ground  sometimes  appeared  in  the  line  of  the 
prophets. 

The  prophet  represented  the  universal  soul  of  human- 
ity that  responded  to  the  law  of  God  written  in  the  con- 
science, not  regarding  the  political,  social,  and  ecclesias- 
tical differences  that  separate  men.  They  told  the  peo- 
ple their  sins  without  fear  or  favor — as  God's  spokesmen, 
responsible  to  him  alone.  They  sternly  rebuked  wicked 
men.  They  taught  the  truth,  or  the  true  faith,  though 
morally  and  spiritually  rather  than  dogmatically,  and 
often  with  mighty  eloquence,  as  with  lips  touched  by  a 
coal  of  fire  from  off  God's  altar.  Elijah,  Isaiah,  Ezekiel, 
have  never  been  surpassed  in  boldness,  sublimity,  and 
force,  by  uninspired  men.     They  taught  commonly  by 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  23 

the  method  of  direct  oral  address,  and  were  looked  upon 
as  authorized  by  God  to  speak  to  the  people. 

Thus,  at  the  very  end  of  the  old  dispensation,  John  the 
Baptist  was  recognized  as  a  prophetic  teacher  sent  from 
God. 

Jesus  himself,  as  "  the  Anointed,"  or  the  One  "  sent" 
from  God,  came  in  the  regular  line  of  the  prophets,  and 
was  so  accepted  by  minds  susceptible  to  righteousness  ; 
and,  in  like  manner,  all  true  Christian  preachers,  through 
Christ,  are,  in  some  sense,  in  the  line  of  the  "  prophets," 
or  are  "  prophets  ;"  and  if  they  be  genuinely  holy  men, 
God  speaks  through  them  as  proclaimers  of  his  law  and 
preachers  of  righteousness,  interpreting,  like  the  older 
prophets,  the  letter  by  the  spirit.  But  Christian  preach- 
ers should  take  heed  also  to  the  warning  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, that  if  they  prophesy,  "  let  them  prophesy  ac- 
cording to  the  proportion  of  faith."  This  is  a  most  in- 
teresting point  of  resemblance,  and  later  on  we  shall 
speak  more  fully  of  this  relation. 

After  the  Captivity  there  was  renewed  enthusiasm  for 
the  teaching  of  the  law,  and  schools  were  established  to 
raise  up  skilful  interpreters  of  the  Hebrew  moral  code, 
who  were  afterward  the  "  lawyers"  mentioned  in  the  New 
Testament. 

Synagogues  also  were  founded,  in  which  were  regular 
expositions  of  the  "  law  and  the  prophets"  on  the  Sab- 
bath ;  and  in  the  time  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity, 
according  to  Philo,  the  services  of  the  large  and  splen- 
didly adorned  Jewish  synagogues  consisted  chiefly  of  oral 
instruction  and  free,  extended  speaking. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  all  that  has  been  affirmed 
concerning  the  prophetic  office  in  the  Old  Testament,  it 
must  be  said  that  "preaching,"  in  the  New  Testament 
sense  of  the  term,  was  not  the  main  or  even  prominent 


34  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

instrumentality   of    spreading  divine   truth   and  building 

up  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  former  dispensation  ;  yet 

-,        .  .         we  ought  not  to  consider  preaching  to  be  so 
Preaching  °  r-  fc> 

not  the       peculiar  to  the  Christian  economy  that  there 

main  instru-    are  to  be  found   no  suggestions  or  even  true 

mentality     examples  of  it  in  the  older  church  ;   for  it 

°  belongs  rather  to  the  needs  of  our  common 

Dispensation.  ,        ,.    . 

human  nature,  to  the  divme  method  of  rea- 
son and  love,  to  the  character  of  a  reasonable  religion, 
and  to  the  most  efificient  mode  of  communicating  spirit- 
ual truth  to  men.  That  preaching  is  not  wholly  confined 
to  the  biblical  dispensation  and  appointment,  whether  of 
the  Old  or  New  Dispensation,  but  is  a  natural  method  of 
communicating  truth,  is  illustrated,  for  instance,  by  the 
example  of  the  Greek  philosophers. 

Like   the   older   philosophers,  Thales,  Pythagoras,  and 

Anaxagoras,    who    preceded    him,   Socrates 
Socrates.  .   ,       ,  .         ,  .  , 

might  be  mentioned  as  an  eminent  example 

of  the  power  of  oral  instruction.  His  teaching,  which  has 
had  so  wonderful  and  indestructible  an  influence  upon 
human  thought,  was  wholly  oral.  He  seems  to  have  written 
nothing.  When  asked  why  he  did  not  write  out  his  instruc- 
tions, he  is  said  to  have  replied,  "  I  would  rather  write 
upon  the  hearts  of  living  men  than  upon  the  skins  of  dead 
sheep."  There  is,  in  fact,  a  vital  power  in  the  immediate 
contact  of  the  living  teacher  with  living  minds,  an  im- 
pression made  upon  the  sensibilities  and  dispositions  of 
men,  which  leaves  an  influence  that  written  words  and 
books  cannot  do,  and  that  propagates  itself  and  does  not 
die.  The  great  fact  that  our  Lord,  above  all,  did  not  leave 
one  written  sentence,  but  trusted  his  words  of  everlasting 
import  and  saving  power  to  oral  communication,  shows 
that  preaching  is  the  natural  as  well  as  the  divine  method 
of  imparting  truth. 


HISTORY   OF  rKEACHING.  25 

Easy  as  the  talk  of  children,  fleeting  as  the  passing 
breath,  oral  preaching  is  yet  the  strongest  and  most  en- 
during instrumentality  in  the  world,  because  the  Spirit 
of  God  and  the  spirit  of  man  are  in  it  and  wield  it. 

A   peculiarly   interesting   illustration   of   the   fact   that 
preaching   is   the   natural   method   of    propagating  truth 
and  moral  life  is  to  be  found  in  the  exam- 
ple of  the  Stoic  philosophers,  and  especiallv     ,  .,        , 
^  r  1  >  r  ^    philosophers. 

of  the  sect  of  Roman  Cynics. 

"  Education  fell  in  a  great  degree  into  their  hands. 
Many  great  families  kept  a  philosopher  among  them,  in 
what  in  modern  language  might  be  termed  the  capacity 
of  a  domestic  chaplain,  while  a  system  of  popular  preach- 
ing was  created  and  widely  diffused." 

"  Of  these  preachers  there  were  two  classes,  who  differed 
greatly  in  their  characters  and  methods.  The  first,  who 
have  been  happily  named  '  the  monks  of  Stoicism,'  were 
the  Cynics,  who  appear  to  have  assumed  among  the 
moralists  of  the  pagan  empire  a  position  somewhat  re- 
sembling that  of  the  mendicant  orders  in  Catholicism. 
In  a  singularly  curious  dissertation  of  Epictetus,  we  have 
a  picture  of  the  ideal  at  which  a  Cynic  should  arrive,  and 
it  is  impossible  in  reading  it  not  to  be  struck  with  the  re- 
semblance it  bears  to  the  missionary  friar." 

"  The  Cynic  should  be  a  man  devoting  his  entire  life  to 
the  instruction  of  mankind.  He  must  be  unmarried,  for 
he  must  have  no  family  affections  to  divert  or  dilute  his 
energies.  He  must  wear  the  meanest  dress,  sleep  upon 
the  bare  ground,  feed  upon  the  simplest  food,  abstain 
from  all  earthly  pleasures,  and  yet  exhibit  to  the  world 
the  example  of  uniform  cheerfulness  and  content.  No 
one,  under  pain  of  provoking  the  divine  anger,  should 
embrace  such  a  career  unless  he  believes  himself  to  be 
called  and  assisted  by  Jupiter.     It  is  his  mission  to  go 


26  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

among  men  as  the  ambassador  of  God,  rebuking,  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  their  frivoHty,  their  cowardice,  and 
their  vice.  He  must  stop  the  rich  man  in  the  market- 
place. He  must  preach  to  the  people  in  the  highway. 
He  must  know  no  respect  and  no  fear.  He  must  look 
upon  all  men  as  his  sons,  and  upon  all  women  as  his 
daughters.  In  the  midst  of  a  jeering  crowd  he  must  ex- 
hibit such  a  placid  calm  that  men  may  imagine  him  to  be 
of  stone.  Ill-treatment  and  exile  and  death  must  have 
no  terror  in  his  eyes,  for  the  discipline  of  his  life  should 
emancipate  him  from  every  earthly  tie,  and  when  he  is 
beaten  he  should  love  those  who  beat  him,  for  he  is  at 
once  the  father  and  brother  of  all  men."  * 

Even  the  use  of  texts  by  these  philosophers  is  notice- 
able. 

"  They  acquired  the  habit  of  never  enforcing  the  sim- 
plest lesson  without  illustrating  it  by  a  profusion  of 
ancient  examples,  and  by  detached  sentences  from  some 
philosopher,  which  they  employed  much  in  the  same  way 
as  texts  of  Scripture  are  often  employed  in  the  writings 
of  the  Puritans."  ^ 

Judaism  in  its  relation  to  Christian  preaching  is  a  theme 
upon  which  we  cannot  now  dwell  ;  but  although  Juda- 
ism had  infinitely  higher  ideas  of  God  and 

Judaism  in    q{   man    than    heathenism    ever  did,   yet   it 

could  not  teach  man  the  way  of  redemption 
to  Christian  .  iirr-i- 

oreachins-     '^  ^  savmg  knowledge  of  God,  smce  it 

was,  to  the  sinful  soul,  rather  the  letter  that 
kills  than  the  spirit  that  makes  alive.  Yet  it  was  a  sys- 
tem preparatory  to  the  gospel.  It  formed  historically, 
through  its  synagogue  teachings,  the  prelude  to  the  model 
of  both  Christian  worship  and  Christian  preaching.     It 


'  Lecky's  "  Hist,  of  European  Morals,"  v.  i.  p.  32S.  *  Id. 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  27 

set  forth,  above  all,  the  primary  truth  of  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  law.  It  awaked  yearnings  after  God,  and  the 
profound  sense  of  sin  as  well  as  the  sense  of  God's  dis- 
pleasure against  sin.  But  the  Pharisees  quenched  the 
true  life  of  the  Mosaic  faith  in  externalism,  and  a  dog- 
matic self-righteousness  ;  the  Sadducees,  pretending  to 
restore  Judaism  to  its  original  life  and  spirit,  and  to  re- 
lieve it  from  the  bondage  of  forms,  brought  in  a  chilling 
rationalism  ;  the  Essenes,  the  ascetics  and  mystics  of 
Hebraism,  sought  to  find  religion  in  the  subjective  feel- 
ing which  disregarded  the  outward  life  and  the  act  of 
duty.'  Could  these,  in  their  exclusive,  minute,  and 
arbitrary  system,  preach  the  spiritual  message  of  God  to 
men  ?  Could  they,  who  shut  out  all  but  themselves  from 
Jerusalem,  establish  the  universal  city  and  kingdom  of 
God  ?  Yet  they  were,  in  their  narrowness  and  perversity, 
the  precursors  of  this  kingdom,  and  of  the  preachers  of 
this  kingdom,  as  seen  in  an  eminent  degree  in  John  the 
Baptist,  who  was  a  preacher  of  repentance.  They  showed 
men  their  need  of  God,  and  they  proved  to  men  their 
own  inability  to  lead  them  to  God  and  eternal  life.  If 
they  could  not  do  it,  who  could  ?  The  pagan  world  had 
lost  the  torch  of  natural  religion,  and  had  sunk  into  the 
darkness  of  atheism.  The  full  time  for  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  of  life  and  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ  had 
come. 

Sec.  5.  Preachiyig  of  Christ  and  of  the  Apostles. 

There  had  then  truly  come  to  be  an  absolute  necessity 
for  the  pure  word  of  truth  in  the  world,  in  order  that  men 
might  be  instructed  in  a  spiritual  religion.  Human 
means  of  making  men  better  and  of   bringing  them  to 


'  Paniel's  "  Prag.  Gesch. ,"  pp.  25,  26. 


28  HO  MILE  TICS   F  ROPER. 

God  through  the  administration  of  ordinances  had  failed, 

and  would  continue  to  fail,  and  the  only  way  left  to  win 

_       ,  .         and   save  men  was  by  the  manifestation  of 
Preaching  ■' 

the  peculiar  the  truth  in  pureness  and  love.  The  means 
Christian  appointed  to  do  this,  viz.,  preaching,  was  so 
instrumen-    simple  that  it  might  be  called  spiritual. 

*  ^'  Its  method  of  operation   was  by  reason, 

sympathy,  and  love.  It  was  psychological,  and  not  phy- 
sical. It  was  the  instrumentality  of  the  word  speaking 
to  the  soul.  The  preaching  of  the  word,  addressed  ob- 
jectively to  the  understanding  and  reason  of  men,  and 
enforced  subjectively  in  the  heart  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  who 
is  called  the  "  Spirit  of  God,"  the  "  Spirit  of  Christ," 
was  the  divinely  appointed  means  of  converting  the 
world. 

The  preaching  of  Christ,  historically  considered,  must 

be  regarded  as  the  initiative,  and  the  model  of  Christian 

preaching.     Peter    said   to   Cornelius  (Acts 

Preaching     10:37),  "That  word  ye   know,   which   was 

of  Christ      published  throughout   all   Judea,   and  began 

..       ,     from  Galilee ''  with  doubtless  heartfelt  rev- 
considered.    •' 

erent  allusion  to  the  preaching  of  Christ. 
Our  Lord  himself  relied  upon  and  practised  this  simple 
means  of  establishing  and  diffusing  the  kingdom  of  God. 
As  has  been  already  set  forth,  Christ  was  not  ashamed  to 
be,  and  to  prepare  himself  to  be,  a  preacher. 

In  his  preparation  for  the  work  of  preaching,  Christ  did 
not,  it   is  true,  frequent  the  Jewish  theological  schools, 
and  he  opposed  the  teachings  of  the  recog- 
nized  Hebrew  instructors  of  the  day  ;    but 
preparation. 

he  built  himself  upon  the  Scriptures  of  the 

Old  Testament,  coming  not  to  destroy  the  law,  but  to 
fulfil  it.  He  dwelt  also  upon  the  divine  thoughts  of 
his  own  heart,  meditating  upon  the  needs  and  sorrows 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  29 

of  a  world  that  had  departed  from  God.     May  we  not 

also  suppose  that  he  studied  the  revelation  of  God  in 

nature  ?     In  the  vale  of  Nazareth,  as  in  a  quiet  mountain 

chapel  or  sanctuary, 

"  His  daily  teachers  had  been  woods  and  rills, 
The  silence  that  is  in  the  starry  sky, 
The  sleep  that  is  among  the  lonely  hills." 

The  deeper  consciousness  of  a  higher  nature  once  awaked 

and  constantly  growing  within  him  constituted  him  the 

interpreter  of  God's  word  and  its  infallible  teacher. 

After  thirty  years  of  silent  preparation  he  came  forth 

as  a  preacher  ;  and  in  his  preaching  he  proceeded  upon  a 

certain  method.      He  grafted  the  new  truth 

upon    the    old    letter,   thus    bringing    forth       '^  ™^    °  ' 

^  and  form 

"  things  new  and  old,'   accommodating  him-  ^j.  preaching. 

self  to  the  point  of  view  of  his   hearers. 

Christ  preached  from  the  Old  Testament  as  his  text, 
bringing  Christian  truth  into  true  relations  to  the  ancient 
revelation.  He  based  his  teachings  upon  the  moral  law, 
both  revealed  and  natural. 

The  form  of  his  preaching  was  varied,  and  was  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  character  and  culture  of  his  hearers. 
In  the  fiist  place  it  was,  as  we  have  seen,  oral  address  or 
preaching.  He  wrote  not  but  upon  men's  hearts.  He 
trusted  to  the  spoken  word.  "  The  words  that  I  speak 
unto  you,  they  are  spirit  and  they  are  life."  "  He  sent 
forth  his  word  and  healed  them."  Then  it  is  noticeable 
that  the  principle  of  adaptatiorn  was  exquisitely  mani- 
fested in  all  that  he  said.  "  He  knew  all  men"  (John 
2  :  24).  He  put  himself  upon  their  level.  He  never 
made  a  mistake  as  to  the  character  of  his  audience. 
Before  the  learned  Pharisees  he  spoke  of  the  law  and  the 
way  of  righteousness  ;  with  the  common  people  he  de- 
scended to  familiar  illu.strations.  To  the  soldier  he  spoke 
5 


30  BOMILETICS    PROPER. 

of  duty  ;  to  the  rich  man  of  benevolence  ;  to  the  corrupt 
Samaritan  woman,  of  nationahty  and  of  infidelity  of  liv- 
ing ;  to  those  who  were  to  suffer  persecution,  of  the 
glories  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Again,  his  divine  skill  as  a  preacher  was  shown  in  that 
he  set  forth  the  spiritual  truth  in  a  concrete  form,  having 
life  in  itself,  and  as  a  seed-truth  to  be  fructified  by  the 
thought  and  experience  of  the  hearer.  To  sum  up  the 
great  characteristic  of  Christ's  preaching,  it  might  rever- 
ently be  thus  expressed  :  that  essential  truth — truth  which 
is  necessary  for  the  soul's  life — was  conveyed  by  him  in 
such  a  way,  or  with  such  clearness,  naturalness,  and 
vivid  illustrative  force,  that  this  truth  came  to  be  appre- 
hended, not  only  by  the  minds  or  understandings,  but  in 
the  hearts  of  those  who  heard  him.  In  his  words  they 
looked  upon  the  very  countenance  of  truth.  His  preach- 
ing mirrored  the  thoughts  of  their  minds  and  the  disposi- 
tion of  their  hearts — the  man  of  the  heart.  It  was 
spiritual  preaching.  They  saw  the  truth,  and  loved  it  or 
hated  it.  He  penetrated  to  the  true  character  or  real 
love  of  those  whom  he  addressed.  He  possessed  in  its 
full  power  the  efficiency  of  sympathy.  He  reached  every 
one,  because  he  loved  every  one  ;  and  no  preacher  can 
do  much  with  hearts  unless  he  is  in  vital  union  with 
Christ — with  his  spirit  of  love.  This  will  teach  him 
how  to  reach  the  hearts  of  different  men.  When  Christ 
preached  to  his  disciples,  it  was  one  thing  ;  when  to  the 
unbelieving  Jews,  it  wks  another  ;  but  there  was  ever  a 
fundamental  truth,  a  fact  concerning  God  and  man's  rela- 
tion to  him,  a  principle  of  divine  life  which  was  already 
acknowledged  by  the  conscience,  or  revealed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  and  this  fact,  principle,  or  truth,  be  it  terrible  or 
joyful,  was  set  before  the  people  in  a  way  that  showed  a 
mastery  of  the  human  heart.     He  not  only  had,  in  a  per- 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  3 1 

feet  degree,  that  gentleness  which  belonged,  for  exam- 
ple, in  some  lower  sense,  to  the  character  and  preaching 
of  F6n61on,  and  which  causes  men  to  love  the  truth,  and 
mildly  insinuates  itself  into  the  soul  and  awakens  the 
most  tender  thoughts  and  affections,  creating  the  con- 
sciousness of  reconciliation  and  peace,  but  he  had  also 
in  a  perfect  degree  the  virile  force  of  John  Knox  and  of 
the  old  prophets — the  terrible  majesty  of  justice,  the 
wrath  of  the  purest  Being  in  the  universe  against  sin  or 
whatever  is  opposed  to  goodness.  But  this  quality  of 
terribleness  was  in  some  sense  accidental,  though  neces- 
sarily so.  Love  was  the  underlying  power  of  all  his 
preaching,  its  essential  nature,  as  it  was  also  the  attract- 
ive power  of  his  life  and  of  his  death,  "  drawing  all  men 
unto  him."  Neither  his  hearers,  nor  any  men  after 
them,  will  ever  forget  or  really  disbelieve  the  truth  of 
the  forgiving  mercy  and  love  of  the  Heavenly  Father,  as 
set  forth  in  the  parable  of  the  ' '  Prodigal  Son. ' '  There- 
fore the  teachings  of  Christ,  in  a  higher  sense  than  the 
words  were  originally  used,  area  HTtjixa  ii  aei.  They, 
will  not  drop  out  of  the  world's  heart. 

May  we  not,  as  preachers,  profit  from  Christ's  preach- 
ing ?  Should  we  not  earnestly  study  him  as  a  preacher  ? 
Should  we  not  strive  after  his  sympathy,  popularity,  life, 
truth,  naturalness,  adaptation,  and  variety  ? 

He  indeed  is  our  exemplar  in  preaching  that  word  of 
God  which  is  able  to  make  wise  unto  life  eternal. 

But  Christ's  personal  instruction  was  brief.  It  was  of 
the  utmost  importance  that  insti-umentalities  should  be 
reared  up  whereby  to  transmit  Christ's  teaching,  and 
publish  abroad  this  "word  of  healing."  One  of  the 
objects,  therefore,  of  Christ's  thought  and  care  was  to 
prepare  preachers  who  should  come  after  him — who  were 
to  learn  to  teach  the  same  word  of  God  that  he  taught, 


32  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

"  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have 
commanded  you." 

As  to  the  form  of  their  preaching  he  did  not  particu- 
larly prescribe,  leaving  it  to  the  promptings 
Christ        of  ^he  Spirit  and  of  their  own  minds,  and 

'    "°        of  the  circumstances  and  wants  of  the  age. 
prescribe 

form  of       ^^^^  ^^^^  material  of  their  preaching,  the  sub- 
preaching,     stance  of  the  faith  they  taught,  was  to  be  the 
"gospel"   [to  EvayyeXiov).     They  were  to 
preach  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom  to  all  men,  to  all  the 
world  until  Christ  came. 

"  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature"  {iirjpv^aTe  to  svayyiXiovy 

Let  us  now  ask,  What  is  the  "  gospel"  which  the  first 
disciples  of  Christ  were  to  herald'  to  all  men,  and  which 
we  also  are  to  preach  ? 

The  "gospel"  is  usually  interpreted  to  mean  "glad 
tidings."     This  is  correct,  but  does  not  quite  express  the 

^,     ,,  full  force  of  ff^yyf'Azor.     This  word  is  com- 

The '  gos-  ' '         , 

pel"  the      posed  of  two  words,  £v,  which  is  strictly  the 

subject  of  neuter  of  £V£,  good,  and  ayyeXoi,  ayysAia^  a 
Christian  "messenger,"  a  "message,"  which  latter, 
preac  ing.  j^  ^^^  compound,  takes  the  termination  ov  ; 
so  that  the  full  meaning  of  the  word  is  "a  good  mes- 
sage," or  a  message  that  must  be  delivered  to  men  for 
their  highest  good  —something  implicitly  needful  to  be 
delivered,  something  that  has  an  element  of  responsibil- 
ity, necessity,  impulsion  in  it,  but  for  which,  if  the  mes- 
senger delivers  it  arightj  he  is  to  be  crowned. 

What,  then,  is  this  "  good"  or  "  cheering"  "  message" 
from  God' — this  "  Gode-spell "  (gospel),  as  the  old 
Saxon  phrase  is — this  message  that  is  of  such  a  nature 
that  it  must  be  heard  by  men,  and  if  heard  aright  will 
bring  them  everlasting  joy  and  peace  ? 


HISTORY  OF  PREACIII.VG.  33 

Originally  it  was  a  message  of  unmixed  delight,  uniting 
heaven  and  earth  in  the  joy.  It  was  a  gospel  of  "  large 
toleration,  of  tender  sympathy,  of  cheerful  hope,  of  joy- 
ous thanksgiving,"  of  divine  love;  and  let  it  never  be 
made  a  narrow  gospel,  a  discouraging  gospel,  a  merely 
human  gospel  !  It  was  sent  to  all  men,  for  their  good 
and  eternal  hope.  "  Behold  I  bring  you  good  tidings  of 
great  joy.  Unto  you  is  born  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ 
the  Lord.  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth 
peace,  good  will  toward  men."  It  is  the  announcement 
of  the  wondrously  inspiring  truth  that  "  the  Word  was 
made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us;"  that  "  in  the  fulness 
of  time  God  had  sent  forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman, 
made  under  the  law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the 
law,  that  they  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons."  It 
was  the  announcement  of  the  Son  of  God,  who,  uniting 
the  divine  and  human  elements  in  his  nature,  was  made 
fit  to  be  the  Redeemer.  The  "  gospel,"  then,  or  the 
"glad  message,"  is  the  annunciation  of  Christ,  the  Son 
of  God,  come  in  the  flesh,  comprehending  in  its  scope  his 
transcendent  birth,  his  teaching,  acts,  miracles,  death  for 
men's  sins  by  transferring  the  burden  of  them  to  himself 
as  a  suffering  sin-bearer,  resurrection  and  ascension,  and 
the  establishment  in  men's  lives  by  his  immanent  Spirit 
of  a  kingdom  of  righteousness,  truth,  and  peace,  and  all 
this  as  immediately  connected  with  and  forming  the 
means  of  our  salvation.  The  "gospel"  is  thus  both  a 
message  and  a  means  of  salvation.  By  it  a  new  race  is  to 
be  created  out  of  the  seed  of  fallen  man.  Such  texts  as 
John  3  :  i6,  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life"  ;  i  Tim. 
1:15,  "  This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  ac- 
ceptation, that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 


34  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief";  and  that  inexhaustible 
passage,  i  Tim.  3  :  i6,  "  And  without  controversy,  great 
is  the  mystery  of  godHness  :  God  was  manifest  in  the 
flesh,  justified  in  the  spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto 
the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up  into 
glory" — such  texts  set  forth  the  nature  of  the  gospel  in 
comprehensive  words,  epitomizing  the  freeing  of  man 
from  the  power  of  evil,  solving  questions  concerning  his 
spiritual  estate,  satisfying  his  soul's  needs,  and  implying 
the  moral  perfection  of  the  race.  This  "gospel"  does 
not  grow  old,  and  is  the  gospel  of  "  eternal  life,"  because 
it  springs  from  divine  love,  and  is  fitted  to  meet  the  con- 
stantly recurring  wants  of  men  ;  for  while  it  is  one  in  the 
unity  of  Christ,  it  is  of  varied  application  to  all  minds, 
and  to  all  spiritual  conditions. 

This,  evidently,  was  what  the  New  Testament  writers 
and  apostles  called  the  "  gospel,"  as  referred  to  i  Cor. 
15:1,2:  "  Moreover,  brethren,  I  declare  unto  you  the 
gospel  which  I  preached  unto  you,  which  also  ye  received, 
and  wherein  ye  stand  ;  by  which  also  ye  are  saved, 
if  ye  keep  in  memory  what  I  preached  unto  you,  unless 
ye  believed  in  vain" — -the  apostle  then  going  on  to  state 
definitely  what  he  had  received,  and  declared  as  the  chief 
things,  viz.  :  Christ's  death  for  our  sins,  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  and  his  resurrection  and  ascension  for  our 
justification  and  eternal  life.  Let  it  be  remembered 
that  the  gospel  is  Christ.  It  is  wholly  and  entirely 
Christ. 

With  this  cheering  me|ssage  of  the  redemptive  work  of 
the  Son  of  God — this  gospel  of  salvation  to  men — the 
apostles  were  put  in  trust.  They  very  soon  began  to 
preach,  as  is  proved  by  Peter's  words  to  Cornelius  the 
centurion,  already  quoted  :  "  That  word  ye  know,  which 
was    published    throughout    all  Judea,   and   began    from 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  35 

Galilee,  after  the  baptism  which  John  preached."  It 
was  a  preaching  under  the  new  baptism  of  the  Holy- 
Ghost.     The  apostles  preached  the  "  word" 

Apostles' 
with  that  earnestness  and  faith  which  is  ac-  ,  . 

preaching 

companied  by  the  converting  power  of  the        of  the 

Spirit.      They    trusted    "  to    the    power    of       gospel, 

Christ,    not    to    human    wisdom    and    elo-       •"  what 
,i  1  peculiar, 

auence.  *^ 

The  apostles'  preaching  differed  from  that  of  preachers 
who  came  after  them,  and  from  the  preaching  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  in  this — that  their  preaching  was  principally 
designed  to  give  men  the  truth,  to  proclaim  to  men  the 
original  "gospel,"  which  when  given  other  preachers 
were  to  take  up,  interpret,  and  enforce,  in  the  sense  of 
teaching  {SiSaGKaXia)  ;  but  theirs  especially  was  the 
ofifice  of  "  heralding"  the  gospel  {Kr^pvuEia).  They  went 
everywhere  as  "  messengers"  and  "  evangelists"  to  pro- 
claim the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  They  were 
named  {ur'ipvHai  xal  aTioaroXoi)  (i  Tim.  2  :  f).  Paul 
declares  himself  to  be  a  teacher,  not  of  "  believers"  and 
of  "saints,"  but  of  the  "Gentiles."  The  missionary- 
spirit  pervades  the  whole  "  Acts  of  the  Apostles  ";  it  is 
aggressive,  like  the  sunrise,  and  it  insists  on  perpetual 
advance.'' 

Whenever  these  "  heralds"  had  gathered  a  congrega- 
tion, or  church,  of  believers  together,  they  left  them  and 
went  on  to  new  fields.  Nevertheless  the  apostles,  and 
above  all  Paul,  were  true  preachers,  even  in  the  com- 
monly accepted  sense.  They  ministered  for  years  to- 
gether to  particular  churches,  as  did  Paul  to  the  Ephe- 
sians,  and  James  to  the  church  at  Jerusalem.     We  must 


'  De  Pressens6. 

*  Dean  Howson's  "  Acts  of  the  Apostles,"  p.  i6i. 


36  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

gather  from  their  recorded    instructions   what    was  the 

general  style  and  spirit  of  their  apostolic  preaching. 

Peter's  preaching  on  the  day  of  Pentecost   has  been 

called  "  the   first   Christian   sermon"  ;   but   we  prefer  to 

date,  as  we  have  done,  Christian  preaching 

Preaching     {^^-^  a  higher  source — from  the   preaching 
of  Peter.  . 

of  Christ. 

Peter's  address  was  forcible,  while  at  the  same  time  it 
was  artless  and  spiritual.  The  characteristics  of  it  are 
fully  seen  in  his  letters,  so  rugged  in  form,  but  so  full  of 
passionate  fire  and  sublimity  ;  although  the  gravity  and 
sobered  zeal  of  the  apostle  who  sinned  and  repented  and 
was  made  "  a  pillar  in  the  house  of  God,"  are  also  ap- 
parent. 

James  had  a  more  calm,  careful,  measured,  and  author- 
itative utterance,  moving  on  the  even  plane  of  Christian 
life   with    the   moral   element    in    predomi- 

Preaching     nance— the  ethos  rather  than  the  pathos  of 
of  James.       _,     .     .      . 

Christianity. 

John's  preaching,  we  sometimes  think,  was  all  love,  and 

so  it  was  ;  but  we  mistake  him  if  we  suppose  that  it  was  a 

superficial  excitation  of  the  emotional  nature 

h'reaciing     — ^^^  ^^^  drawn  from  the  deepest   sources, 

of  John.  ,         1        1         1  r  T 

where  sleeps  also  the  thunder  of  power,      it 

was  certainly  characterized  by  what  we  would  now  call 
subjectiveness  ;  but  the  subject  lay  not  only  in  the 
depths  of  his  own  mind,  but  rather  of  the  divine  mind. 
He  searched  the  miniJJ  of  the  Spirit,  who  reveals  the  deep 
things  of  God.  He  realized  the  truth  of  his  own  pro- 
found sayinV,  that  "He  that  loveth  is  born  of  God." 
He  seemed  to  care  little  for  the  form  or  language,  and 
more  for  the  essential  spirit  of  truth. 

Paul's  preaching,  which  is  worthy  of  special  study  as  a 
model,  and  of  which  we  have  undoubtedly  literal  exam- 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  37 

pies  in  his  epistles — the  ipsissinia  verba  of  his  ordinary- 
addresses — was  assuredly  no  rude  or  rambling  speech  ; 
if  his  discourses  were   not   framed  upon  the 

rules  of  classic  eloquence  (thoutjh  there  may        ^^^^  *"^ 

^  ^         *=  -^       of  Paul, 

be  some  question  here),  they  had   method, 

and  they  exhibit  often  in  their  fragmentary  forms  (as  in 

the  address  on  Mars  Hill)  the  graces  of  the  introduction, 

the    vehement   logic   of    the    argument,   the    pathos  and 

direct  appeal   of  the  close.      His  language  has  a  marked 

rhetorical  as  well  as  spiritual  element.     It  takes  hold  of 

the    imagination,    the  sensibilities,    and  the    conscience. 

Luther  said  of  Paul's  preaching  : 

"His  words  are  not  dead  words  ;  they  are  living  creat- 
ures with  hands  and  feet." 

His  style  (if  we  may  thus  speak  of  it)  is  highly  peri- 
phrastic, and  at  times  so  involved  as  to  be  loose  in  con- 
struction, and  it  cannot  be  called  formally  logical,  though 
there  is  a  train  of  strong  reasoning  running  through  it, 
with  what  may  be  termed  a  natural  or  rational  connec- 
tion of  parts,  that  appeals  both  to  the  head  and  the  heart. 
It  is  argumentative,  but  at  the  same  time  not  abstruse. 
Though  brought  up  "at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel,"  he  does 
not  seem  to  have  caught  the  endless  dialectics  of  the 
Jewish  doctors.  The  orator  never  loses  sight  of  the  main 
end,  however  tangled  and  obscure  through  frequent 
digressions  his  way  may  be.  Though  carried  by  a  vehe- 
ment energy  of  expression  hither  and  thither,  he  never 
fails  of  his  one  purpose.  In  this  the  noble  individuality 
of  the  man  is  seen — his  singleness  of  mind  that  scorns 
rules,  though  few  perhaps  of  his  day  were  better  ac- 
quainted with  them,  and  his  resistless  feelinjj,  that  bursts 
through  the  bounds  of  calm  discussion,  which  is  addressed 
purely  to  the  judgment. 

Although    Paul   as   an    orator   had  probably  but   few 


38  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

physical  advantages,  and  was  small  of  stature,  and  with- 
out a  winning  or  commanding  presence,  yet  he  had 
amazing  tact  and  knowledge  of  human  nature.  Like  his 
Master,  he  did  not  mistake  his  audience.  He  was  a  Jew 
to  the  Jews,  and  a  Greek  to  the  Greeks.  But  his  chief 
power  as  a  preacher  lay  in  his  through-and-through  con- 
viction of  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  with  which  he  believed 
himself  to  be  intrusted. 

The  gospel  was  for  every  man,  and  was  to  be  preached 
to  all,  without  respect  of  persons.  He  sought  to  impart 
a  knowledge  of  Christ  to  all  men,  and  to  convert  the 
world.  To  do  this  his  instrumentality  was  preaching  ; 
but  in  preaching  he  placed  no  supreme  reliance  upon  skill 
of  reasoning  or  those  forces  which  are  purely  human  and 
partake  of  human  art,  but  upon  the  gospel's  inherent 
power,  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  accompanying  the 
truth  preached.  He  was  eloquent  because  he  did  not 
aim  to  be  so.  Although  he  understood  the  laws  of 
thought,  yet  he  wielded  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is 
the  word  of  God,  so  that  his  preaching  was  apodictic  or 
divinely  self-evidencing.  He  knew  that  wisdom  and 
learning  could  not  save  men,  but  Christ  could.  He  knew 
nothing  among  men  comparatively  but  the  Cross.  The 
Cross  comprehended  all  that  Christ  had  done  for  men. 
From  that  centre  radiated  all  the  life-giving  truths  of 
Christianity.  The  Cross  was  his  theme,  presented  essen- 
tially in  a  hundred  ways.  That  was  the  message  which 
was  to  be  given.  Ali^  was  sacrificed  to  that.  The  love 
of  God  in  Christ  comprehended  all  truth.  He  gave  up 
everything  else,  counting  all  things  but  loss  that  he 
might  preachi  Christ  and  him  crucified.  There  is  much 
indeed  in  the  natural  gifts,  or  the  personality,  of  this 
preacher  which  is  to  be  studied— his  tireless  will,  his 
sagacity,   his  adaptation,   his  magnanimity,    his    mental 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHIXG.  39 

fertility  and  wondrous  resource,  his  tenderness,  pathos, 
tact,  and  robust  common-sense,  as  well  as  his  acquire- 
ments and  peculiar  modes  of  thought — his  psychology  ; 
but  these  all  seem  as  nothing  when  compared  with  his 
faith  in  the  power  of  the  gospel  his  grasp  upon  divine 
sources  of  power. 

His  dependence  was  upon  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  Some 
sects  of  Christians,  who  languish  to  know  why  they  do 
not  make  progress  while  they  feel  thpt  rationally  they 
are  superior  to  their  neighbors,  have  no^  yet  grasped  the 
secret  of  the  apostle's  faith  which  brings  the  heart  of 
God  in  vital  contact  with  the  heart  of  man  in  this  divine 
humanity  and  self-sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God.  His 
power  was  in  this  "  mystery  of  godliness." 

His  preaching  "  was  in  the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit 
and  of  power.''  His  faith  was  literally  boundless,  even 
as  his  message  was  an  unlimited  one  of  the  grace  of  God 
— that  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  him- 
self the  chief.  The  gospel  Avas  an  unwearying  theme  to 
him,  because  it  was  the  manifestation  of  the  divine  love. 
He  fed  upon  this  heavenly  bread  as  the  nourishment  of 
his  own  soul — it  Avas  Christ  for  him  to  live — and  he 
would  give  these  riches  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of 
God  to  other  men,  with  the  hope  that  all  would  receive 
Christ  as  offered  in  his  fulness,  and  that  there  should  be 
built  up  in  the  world  an  ennobled  and  redeemed  human- 
ity. 

Was  the  gospel,  to  Paul,  a  lifeless  dogma  compre- 
hended in  theological  formulas  and  received  by  the  mere 
cold  assent  of  the  reason  as  an  orthodox  Creed  ?  No. 
It  was  a  word  of  life  to  the  world.  It  was  a  direct  mes- 
sage of  the  power  and  love  of  God  to  his  human  chil- 
dren, which  it  was  worth  losing  life  to  proclaim.  Such 
was   Paul   as   a   preacher.     He   was   pre-eminently    the 


40  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

preacher  among  the  apostles.  He  was,  it  is  true,  an  edu- 
cated man,  and  had  experienced  the  influence  of  both  the 
Greek  and  Roman  cultures,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Hebrew 
and  Rabbinical  schools  ;  and  in  this  respect  he  was  dis- 
tinguished from  the  other  disciples,  who  were,  most  of 
them,  illiterate  men  ;  but  he  was  distinguished  more  than 
they  all  by  the  evangelic  fervor  of  his  faith,  considering 
himself  to  be  charged  personally  of  Christ  with  the  gos- 
pel, and  desiring^  above  all  things  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  every  man  to  whom  he  was  debtor  in  love.  There- 
fore he  is,  of  all  human  examples,  perhaps,  the  best  for 
preachers  ;  and  in  saying  this  let  us  not  be  understood  as 
disparaging  the  preaching  of  the  other  disciples.  Though 
not  learned  men,  they  were  men  who,  like  Paul,  sacrificed 
all  for  their  Master  ;  and  they  were  specially  gifted  to 
persuade  men  to  be  reconciled  to  God  ;  they  were  men 
originally  of  sound  minds  ;  they  were  versed  in  the  He- 
brew Scriptures  ;  they  had  a  popular  magnetic  power, 
and  knew  how  to  talk  to  the  common  people — that  is,  the 
common  heart  of  humanity.  Above  all,  they  were  in- 
structed by  Christ  himself,  and  inspired  for  their  work  by 
his  Holy  Spirit.  Their  preaching  was  the  foundation  on 
which  the  faith  of  the  Church  rested  and  was  built,  even 
as  the  apostle  Paul  declared,  "  Whether  it  were  I  or  they, 
so  we  preached,  and  so  ye  believed." 

The  nature  of  the  apostolic  preaching  might  be  gath- 
ered also  from  the  peculiar  circumstances  and  history  of 

_,.       ,       the    primitive    church  ;    and    we    shall   now 
Rise  of  ^  ' 

institution    proceed  under  this  general  head  of  apostolic 

of  preaching  preaching  to  discuss  more  in  detail  the  his- 

in  Apostolic  torical  origin  and  rise  of  the  regular  institu- 

^^'^  '       tion  of  preaching  in  the  primitive  apostolic 

church,   or  as   far   as  the   New  Testament  narrative  and 

testimony  enable  us  to  do  so.     This,  it  will  be  admitted, 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  4 1 

is  an  important  inquiry,  bearing  immediately   upon   the 
work  of  preachers. 

After  the  Pentecost,  the  Christians,  though  still  Jews, 
worshipping  in    the  temple,    naturally  separated    them- 
sclv^es  more  and  more  from  the  Jews  in  re- 
ligion,   and   assembled    daily    in   their   own  ^^^ 

.       ,       ..  1         ,  f  -,       meetings 

houses,  in  the      upper  chamber  ot  prayer  , 

{ro  VTiepooov^,  for  Christian  worship,  "break-  worship, 
ing  of  bread,"  and  prayer.  It  lay  irij  the 
nature  of  these  assemblies  that  much  should  be  said 
in  the  way  of  admonition,  encouragement,  and  instruc- 
tion in  the  things  of  Christ.  Christian  brethren  could 
not  come  together  without  speaking  much  of  him  in 
whose  name  they  were  assembled.  They  gathered  up 
their  precious  memories  of  his  words  and  life,  and  re- 
hearsed them  often  to  one  another.  They  talked  about 
this  theme,  holding  familiar  intercommunications  {ofAi- 
Xlai)  and  conversations  upon  this  absorbing  topic.  The 
apostles,  however,  could  not  always  be  present  on  these 
occasions,  although  when  present  they  doubtless  led  in 
the  speaking  and  instruction,  going  about  from  assembly 
to  assembly,  in  the  temple,  in  the  synagogues,  and  in 
private  houses,  teaching  and  preaching  Jesus  Christ 
(Acts  5  :  42).  But  in  the  apostles'  absence  those  best 
fitted  to  answer  questions  and  make  addresses  were 
called  upon  ;  and  when  by  degrees  the  suspicion  of  the 
priests  and  leaders  of  the  synagogues  drove  out  the  Jew- 
Christians  from  the  Jewish  assemblies,  then,  as  has  been 
said,  in  their  own  exclusive  assemblies  the  gospel  {to 
evayytXiov)  began  to  be  preached  by  the  apostles,  and 
by  the  more  competent  private  members,  though  in  a  free, 
informal  way,  not  at  regular  services  of  public  worship 
only,  but  at  all  meetings  for  prayer  and  brotherly  social 
intercourse,  and  at  the  "agapai,"    or  "feasts  of   love." 


42  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

Let  US  now  endeavor  to  trace  historically  the  earliest 
springs  of  this  institution  of  preaching  as  we  find  it 
recorded  in  the  New  Testament  writings. 

The    three  actual  head-springs  of    Chris- 
Historical     ^.jgj^  preaching  were  : 
head-springs 

of  Christian        ^'   Speaking  with  tongues, 
preaching.         2.   Prophesying. 

3.   Teaching, 
(i.)  Speaking  \vith  tongues  {y\a)66aiz\a\Biv).     This 
sprang  from  devotional  enthusiasm,  sometimes  amounting 
to  ecstasy,   or  something  that  was  wholly 

pea  ing      ^aken  up   with   itself  and  with  God  (i  Cor. 
with  \  ^ 

tonffues  ^4  '  ^)'  It  was  often  pure  praise  and  thanks- 
giving. The  form  of  this  ecstatic  and  ex- 
alted spiritual  praise  was  so  far  removed  from  the  com- 
mon modes  of  expression  that  it  was  not  always  under- 
stood ;  it  was  in  strange  forms  of  expression — "  groanings 
that  could  not  be  uttered,"  and  even  sometimes  in 
foreign,  unknown,  and  unspeakable  words '  (Rom.  8  :  26  ; 
I  Cor,  14  :  27,  28). 

(2.)  Prophesying  {jtpotp-qxBvnv^.  This  was  speaking 
as  freely  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  the  exhortation, 

comfort,  and  encouragement  of  the  brethren 
Prophesying. 

(i  Cor.  14:  30,  31). 

The  New  Testament  "  prophet"  spoke  of  God's  power 
and  goodness,  Christ's  love  and  atoning  death,  man's 
perishing  estate  through  sin  (Acts  10  :  46  ;  19  :  6).  As 
the  "  evangelists"  spoke  of  the  simple  facts  of  Christ — 
the  essential  gospel — the  "  prophets"  spoke  in  inspiring 
terms  of  the  triumphs  and  glories  of  the  gospel,  its  con- 
quest of  heathenism,  and  the  future  reign  of  Christ. 

Prophesying  was  more  or  less  uniform,  and  was  a  more 


'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  40,  seq. 


mSTOJiV  OF  PREACHING.  43 

calm  and  comprehensive  method  than  "  speaking  with 
tongues."  It  had  less  of  exaltation,  and  was  governed 
by  that  divine  spirit  which  is  the  spirit  of  order  and  not 
of  confusion. 

I  Cor.  14  :  1-5  (literally  translated)  :  "  I  beseech  you 
to  follow  earnestly  after  love  ;  yet  I  would  have  you  de- 
light in  the  spiritual  gifts,  but  especially  in  the  gift  of 
prophecy.  But  he  who  speaks  in  tongues,  speaks  not  to 
men,  but  to  God  ;  for  no  man  understands  him,  but  with 
his  spirit  he  utters  mysteries.  But  he  who  prophesies 
speaks  to  men,  and  builds  them  up,  with  exhortation  and 
with  comfort.  He  who  speaks  in  a  tongue  builds  up 
himself  alone  ;  but  he  who  prophesies  builds  up  the 
church.  I  wish  that  you  had  all  the  gift  of  tongues,  but 
rather  that  you  had  the  gift  of  prophecy  ;  for  he  who 
prophesies  is  above  him  who  speaks  in  tongues,  unless  he 
interpret  the  sounds  he  utters,  that  the  churches  may  be 
built  up  thereby.** 

But  although  better  fitted  for  edification  than  speaking 
with  tongues,  and  wonderful  in  their  awakening  power, 
yet  these  prophesyings  had  nevertheless  an  extraordinary 
and  irregular  character.  They  were  like,  and  were,  im- 
mediate inspirations  of  the  Spirit.  They  inwardly 
strengthened  the  faith  of  believers  by  the  very  words 
given  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

(3.)  Teaching  {SiSaaKokid).  To  meet,  however,  a 
deeper  want  than  feeling   or  imagination  could  supply, 

there  was  need  of  a  more  calm  consideration 

c        1  c    ^  •  ■        •       1-    •         '       1    ,  Teaching, 

ot  and  caretul  mstruction  m  divme  truth. 

The  unlearned  asked  of  the  wise  about  Ch/istian  faith, 

and   the  interpretation   of  the   Scriptures.     The  gift  of 

teaching,  or,   as   it  was    sometimes    called,   of  "  knowl- 


Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  47. 


44  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

edge,"  and  of  "  interpretation,"  became  at  length  a 
recognized  charisma  in  the  Church.  The  first  Christians 
were  Jews  built  upon  the  Old  Testament,  and  their  new 
Christian  consciousness  worked  through  the  medium  of 
the  Old  Testament  revelation.  Thus  there  sprang  up, 
as  in  the  Jewish  synagogues  themselves,  questions  and 
answers,  explanations  and  interpretations,  and  here  lay 
the  germs  of  the  first  "  homilies." 

There  was  thus] a  great  variety  in  the  manner  of  teach- 
ing and  speaking  in  the  primitive  Christian  assemblies, 
the  ecstatic  speaker  of  tongues,  the  awakening  prophet, 
the  calm  teacher  and  interpreter.  There  was  the  emo- 
tional expression  and  the  thoughtful  exposition. 

But  gradually  the  varieties  and  irregularities  of  speak- 
ing in  the  early  Christian  assemblies  were 

correc  ion    ^j^j^g  away  by  the  apostles,  as  they  felt  not 

of  irregular!-  .  ,  ,  . 

fes  b    th      only  the  need  of   encouragmg,  but  also  of 

Apostles,     instructing  or  building  up  believers  in  the 
faith,   and    of   presenting   to    the    educated 
classes   among   the    unbelieving    Jews   and  Gentiles  the 
reasonable  aspects  of  Christian  faith. 

Undoubtedly,  too,  the  "  gift  of  tongues"  had  been 
abused  ;  and  then  "  interpretation"  {epixyvsia)  was  intro- 
duced, and  the  "  proving  of  spirits"  {Siauplffiz  nvav- 
fj-droor),  and  more  clear,  discriminating  and  comprehensi- 
ble teaching  took  the  place  of  the  uncertain  and  irregular 
utterance  of  those  who  had  gifts  of  tongues,  and  the 
prophets,  until  the  a|Dostles  at  length  seem  to  have  con- 
cluded that  nothing  which  was  not  clearly  understood, 
which  was  not  rational,  and  appealed  to  the  sound  under- 
standing and  healthy  Christian  consciousness,  which  could 
not  be  interpreted  and  applied  to  immediate  instruction, 
was  admissible.' 


-  Paniel's  "  Gesch,"  p.  53. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  45 

I  Cor.  14  :  18,  19  (freely  translated)  :  "  I  offer  thanks- 
givings to  God,  speaking  in  tongues  to  him  ;  more  than 
any  of  you.  Yet  in  the  congregation  I  would  rather 
speak  five  words  with  my  understanding,  so  as  to  in- 
struct others,  than  ten  thousand  words  in  a  tongue." 
"  Let  all  be  so  done  as  to  build  up  the  church." 

This  calm  preaching  capacity,  which  involved  a  more 
careful  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  and  a  more  pro- 
found insight  into  the  plan  and  theory  of  the 
Christian  faith,  was  comprehended  under  the   ^^^^^gg  ^^ 
name,  as  we  have  already  seen,  of  "  teach-     ^^^aoKalia. 
ing"  {piSaGnaXia).'' 

This  teaching  charisma  was  a  common  good  for  the 
benefit  and  instruction  of  the  Christian  assembly  (i  Cor. 
14  :  26).  But  even  this  must  finally  have  its  limits. 
Although  all  had  a  right  to  teach,  yet  in  each  assembly 
there  were  but  a  few  who  possessed  (at  first  the  apostles 
alone)  this  gift  or  power  of  teaching.  The  uncultivated, 
it  is  true,  sometimes  spoke  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Spirit,  but  few  were  capable  of  regularly  instructing 
the  assembly  in  Christian  truth. 

In  this  way  there  naturally  arose  the  regular  teaching 

or  preaching  office  in  the  Church,  exercised  by  those  who 

had  the  gifts  and  the  character  that  fitted 

them  to  teach.  '^hat  the 

The  preachincf  office  was  still  free,  yet  the     %][     .     °_ 
,  office  in  the 

assembly  naturally  listened  to  the  most  fit       church 
and   gifted  teacher.        The    best    approved   represented. 
teacher,  who  knew  most  about  the  facts  of 
Christ's   life,    and    who    had    studied    most   deeply    the 
theory  of  his  religion — he  was  the  one  who  was  expected 
to  speak. 


'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  58. 


4<>  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

While  the  primitive  Christian  assembly  and  Church 
were  democratic,  yet,  without  anything  like  the  monarch- 
ic or  aristocratic  idea  in  their  worst  sense,  tJie  represen- 
tative teaching  ability  in  the  Chnrch  gradually  assumed 
prominent  place  a)id  rule. 

Clement  of  Rome  cites  the  following  rule  as  one  which 
had  been  handed  down  from  the  apostles  relative  to  the 
appointment  of  Church  offices  :  "  That  they  should  be 
filled  according  tc)  the  judgment  of  approved  men,  with 
the  consent  of  the  whole  community." 

It  may  have  been  the  general  practice  of  the  presbyters 
themselves,  in  case  of  vacancy,  to  propose  another  of  the 
community  in  place  of  the  person  deceased,  and  leave  it 
to  the  whole  body  either  to  approve  or  decline  their  se- 
lection for  reasons  assigned.  Where  this  asking  for  the 
assent  of  the  community  had  not  yet  become  a  mere 
formality,  this  mode  of  filling  church  offices  had  the 
salutary  effect  of  causing  the  votes  of  the  majority  to  be 
guided  by  those  capable  of  judging,  and  of  suppressing 
divisions  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  no  one  was  obtruded 
on  the  community  who  would  not  be  welcome  to  their 
hearts." 

It  was,  in  fact,  the  rule  of  the  selection  of  the  fittest  ; 
and  this  was  probably  the  first  historic  step  toward  the 
establishment  of  a  permanent  teaching,  or  preaching 
office,  which,  though  it  thus  grew  up  naturally,  was  still, 
with  the  sanction  of  the  apostles,  under  the  guidance  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  divinely  in- 
stituted office. 

The  influv^nce  of  preaching  (both  by  the  apostles  and 
other  accredited  teachers)  upon  the  early  Christian 
Church  was,  as  there  is  every  evidence,  extraordinarily 


'  See  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  Torrey's  ed  ,  1852,  v.  i,  p.  189. 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  47 

great.     The  Divine  Word  never  had  more  marked  power 
than  in  those  days  of  the  struggles  and  triumphs  of  primi- 
tive Christianity,  although  this  was  but  the 
promise  of  things  to  come.     An  ardent  sen-    Influence  of 

timent  of  personal  love  toward  Christ  was     P""^^^  '"S 

on  the  early 
maintained  in  the  Church  by  the  prophet,      christian 

the  exhorter,  and  the  speaker  of  tongues.  Church. 
Christ  as  a  person  rather  than  Christ  as  a 
simple  creed,  was  cherished.  A  mighty  influence  of  the 
Spirit  frequently  accompanied  the  speech  of  these  early 
witnesses  for  Christ,  and  an  absorbing  conviction  of  the 
truth  as  an  inspiration  of  heaven  seized  upon  men.  The 
regular  teacher,  or  preacher  {pidaGKockoi),  however,  even 
more  than  these,  founded  the  people  in  a  deep-ground- 
ed and  intelligent  faith  ;  in  the  "sound  doctrine"  spo- 
ken of  by  Paul  in  first  chapter  of  i  Timothy  ;  and,  above 
all,  in  charity  and  holy  living — as  in  (Acts  2  :  42-47  ; 
Acts  4  :  8-13  ;  Acts  4  :  32-35  ;    Acts  6  :  1-4  ;   i    Tim. 

1:5). 
This  w^as  not  only  true  of  the  Church  in  Jerusalem,  but 

of  the  Gentile  churches,  and  of  the  mixed  Jewish  and 
heathen  churches  of  Asia  and  Europe.  Such  noble  fruits 
of  preaching  were  not,  it  is  true,  without  admixtures  of 
evil  fruit  springing  from  corrupt  teaching,  from  the 
ostentation  and  pride  of  speakers  of  tongues,  and  from 
false  prophets  and  teachers.  Many  of  these  were  totally 
illiterate  persons  (iSioorai).  Notwithstanding,  however, 
these  drawbacks,  the  great  influence  of  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel,  in  the  earliest  times  of  Christianity,  every- 
where wrought  its  wonderful  results  in  the  conversion  of 
souls,  and  in  the  bringing  of  men  and  of  nations  in  three 
continents  under  the  sway  of  Christian  faith.' 


'  See  De  Pressens6,  "  Early  Years  of  Christianity,"   p.  216. 


48.  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Sec.   6.   Preaching  in  iJic  first  tivo  Centuries. 

The  business  of  the  "  preacher"  or  "  teacher"  in  the 
Church  having  now  become  a  recognized  fact,  and  cer- 
tain persons  being  regarded  as  better  fitted 
Preaching    than  others  for  this  work  of  pubhc  instruc- 
tion, all  this  went  to  confirm  and  establish 
regular  place 
in  public  regular  preaclnng  office,  which  came  to 

worship,      have  its  distinct  and  important  place  in  pub- 
lic worship. 

Speaking  of  the  period  somewhat  later  than  this  imme- 
diately post-apostolic  period,  one  author  says  :  "  The 
reading  of  the  Scriptures,  and,  above  all,  the  administra- 
tion of  the  sacraments,  had  a  more  important  place  (than 
preaching)  in  the  hearts  of  those  earnest  worshippers. 
It  was  desirable  that  every  Christian  should  be  familiar 
with  the  sacred  writings  ;  and  when  manuscripts  were 
costly,  and  the  bulk  of  every  congregation  consisted  of 
poor  persons,  hearing  the  word  was  a  necessary  substitute 
for  private  reading,  and  was  therefore  one  of  the  most 
important  parts  of  public  worship.  And,  on  the  other 
hand,  baptism,  the  sign  of  the  first  admission  into  com- 
munion with  the  Redeemer  and  his  Church,  and  the 
Lord's  Supper,  the  sign  of  a  constant  growth"  ' — these 
also  had  a  prominent  place. 

Notwithstanding  the  truth  of  these  remarks,  preaching 
obtained  and  held  an  acknowledged  place  in  all  Christian 
public  worship.  It  was  early  introduced  in  about  the  * 
same  place  and  order  that  it  now  occupies  ;  for  example, 
there  were  the  same  elements  of  worship  then  as  now — 
viz.,  psalmocjy  ;  reading  the  Scriptures  (the  law  and  the 
prophets,  and  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  when  these  came 
into  vogue)  ;  teaching  or  preaching,  which  was  chiefly 


'  Moule's  "  Christian  Oratory  during  the  first  five  Centuries,"  p.  51. 


HISTORY  OF  rREACniNG.  49 

expository  and  drawn  directly  from  the  scriptural  lessons 
of  the  day  ;  prayer,  both  liturgical  and  spontaneous  ;  and 
the  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ;  the  last  was  an 
invariable  incident,  in  the  earliest  times,  of  public  wor- 
ship. 

Preaching,  it  is  true,  had  not  as  yet  a  very  definite 
form  beyond  the  general  fact  or  name  of  SidaanaXia, 
although,  as  we  have  already  hinted,  we  find  the  word 
oj^iXeoj  used  casually  in  the  Scriptures,  £|s  in  Luke  24  :  14, 
15  ;  Acts  20  :  II  {6/AiXt)aai  o^xpi^  avyf/i)  ;  and  in  the  first 
two  centuries  preaching  addresses  were  sometimes  called 
"homilies,"  and  even  "sermons,"  as  those  of  Valentinus 
and  Clemens  Romanus.  We  learn  the  style  and  matter 
of  these  earliest  "  homilies"  from  the  remains  of  the  writ- 
ings and  of  the  sacred  orations  of  the  apostolic  fathers 
and  the  earliest  preachers. 

Some  of  these  names  of  the  first  two  centuries,  which 
are  familiar  as  those  also  of  theologians,  are 
Clemens    Romanus,   Ignatius    of    Antioch,         Great 
Polycarp  and  Barnabas,  the  philosopher  Jus-      Preachers 
tin  Martyr,   Tatian,   Athanagoras,   Theoph-      «    «.  *. 
ilus,   Clemens    Alexandrinus,  Irenseus,  and     centuries, 
the  fiery-minded  Tertullian. 

The  addresses  of  the  preachers  of  this  period  were 
chiefly  of  three  kinds  : 

1.  Simple  and  artless  relations  concerning 

■  n     1  1       •  (-      •  -1  Three  ,x- 

the   crucified   and    risen    Saviour,    v.ithout      1  •  j    „r         "^ 

'  kinds  01 

much  of  a  deeper  spiritual  or  even  rhetorical         early 
comprehension  of  the  truth,  perhaps  in  run-     Christian 
ning  comment  upon  tl.e  Gospels  and  Epistlef/   preaching, 
read,  or  in  answers  to  questions. 

2.  Philosophical  treatment  of  divine  truth  by  men  who 
had  imbibed  the  influence  of  the  Oriental  philosophies. 


so  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

oftentimes  mingling  the  greatest  absurdities  with  what- 
ever of  truth  they  possessed, 

3.  The  instructions  of  some  really  educated  men  among 
the  members,  who  were  yet  truly  pious  minds,  and  taught 
the  pure  gospel  in  a  more  systematic  and  comprehensive 
way,  and  often  with  real  eloquence.' 

But  the  condition  of  Christians  and   Christian  assem- 
blies in  these  first  centuries  was,  as  a  general  rule,  ex- 
ceedingly humble. 
Humble  xiie  first  disciples  were  commonly  people 

character      {^q^  ^he  more  obscure  walks  of  life,  and,  as 
of  the         .       ,  , .       .  < .       ,  •   1  ^ 

g    .  m  the  apostolic  times,      not  many  mighty, 

preachers,     riot  many  noble  were  called." 

Celsus  derides  the  early  Christians,  call- 
ing them  "  wool-dressers,  shoemakers,  the  most  illiterate 
and  rude  men,  zealots  who  proclaimed  the  gospel,  first 
of  all,  among  women  and  children  ";  and  yet  there  were 
never  wanting  people  of  higher  culture  among  the  Chris- 
tians, who  were  amply  able  to  instruct  and  preach.  Yet 
even  these  often  openly  scorned  the  aids  of  human  learn- 
ing, and  declared  the  gospel  to  be  wholly  in  the  power 
and  Spirit  of  God. 

Some  Christian  assemblies  refused  to  receive  men  of 
rank  as  their  instructors,  and  in  preference  chose  poor 
and  pious  men,  as  in  the  third  century  one  Firmus,  a 
tradesman,  was  elected  "presbyter;"  also  Severus,  a 
clothier,  and  Alexander,  a  charcoal-burner,  whose  black- 
ened face  excited  laughter  among  the  young,  were  ap- 
pointed preachers.^     ' 

Still,  thoa<^  illustrious  preachers  whom  we  have  pre- 
viously namdd,  and  many  others,  were  chosen  on  account 
of  their  fitness  for  the  work  of   instruction.     Teachers, 


'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  87.  •  Id.,  p.  89. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  5^ 

too,   began    to    undergo    "proving"    in    regard  to  their 

capacities.     The  apostles  themselves,  we  have  reason  to 

believe,   instructed    some  men  especially  to 

'  n.minent 

be    teachers:    thus  Clement    of    Rome    was    exceptions. 

probably  taught  by  the  apostle   Peter  ;  Ig- 
natius by  Peter,  Paul,  and  John  ;  and  Polycarp  by  John. 
About  the  year  170  A.D.  the  system  of  catechumenical 
instruction  was  introduced,  and   toward  the  end  of  the 

second    century     the     distinction    between 

it'  i_  i.u^,    j^  Distinction 

xXiipoi  and   \aoi  was   begun   to   be   made. 

''  °  between 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  said  that  in  these         ^- .^^^ 

first   centuries  the   didocGJuxXoi  and    npo^.a-      and  '/.a6q. 

rears?,  were   generally   like   from  like — men 

freely  chosen  out  of  the  whole  body  ecclesiastically  their 

equals  in  rank. 

But  later  it  came  about  that  skill  in  preaching  was 
esteemed  to  be  a  requisite  of  the  presbyteral  office.  It 
lay  indeed  in  the  very  nature  of  things  that  as  the  Church 
increased  and  its  wants  were  developed,  the  necessity  of 
having  trained  and  skilful  teachers  should  be  felt. 

Public  Christian  worship  after  the  Church  had  come  out 
from  Judaism  was  at  first  held,  as  we  have  seen,  in  pri- 
vate houses,  without  temples,  altars,  or  stat-        Public 
ues.'     The    Jewish    and    Gentile    Christians      worship 
must  have  felt  a  certain  loss  in  these  out-  and 

vv^ard  things  connected  with  worship,  which       Church 
1  1  1  ^     X.U  edifices, 

was,  however,  more  than  made  up  to  them 

in  the  truth  that  every  Christian  v  as  himself  a  spiritual 

temple  to  the  Lord,  and  that  where  two  or  three  were 

gathered  together  there  was  Christ,  the  Lord  of  souls,  in 

the  midst  of  them.     But  from  the  increas(fd  size  of  the 

assemblies,  and  probably  in  imitation  of  the  Jewish  syna- 


'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p. 


52  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

gogue,  or  more  probably  the  Jewish  "  houses  of  prayer," 
Christians  at  the  end  of  the  second  century  began  to 
have  their  own  houses  of  worship.  In  the  year  202,  for 
example,  a  beautiful  church  edifice  is  known  to  have 
been  reared  in  Odessa. 

The  smaller  places  of  worship,  or  "  houses  of  prayer," 
(vri)ftia,  7ipo(}ei)T)']pia^  and  uvpiaKa,  were  furnished  in  a 
simple  and  unostentatious  manner — a  wooden  table  for 
the  feast  of  bread  and  wine,  and  a  higher  seat  or  stand 
for  the  reading  of.  the  Scriptures  and  preaching.  Those 
who  gathered  in  these  assemblies  were  called,  from  a 
classic  Greek  word  for  public  assemblage,  iKnki]aiai, 
and  hence  the  buildings  themselves  took  the  name  of 
"  churches." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  these  early  assemblies  for 
worship,  at  first  held  daily,  then  on  stated  days  for  the 
celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  then  regularly  on 
Sunday,  preaching,  though  of  that  artless  and  spontane- 
ous sort  which  has  been  mentioned,  formed  a  regular 
part,  but  not  yet  so  uniform  and  established  as  in  the 
fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  It  occupied  a  prominent 
place  on  fast  and  feast  days,  such  as  Pentecost,  Epiph- 
any, Advent,  Good  Friday,  and  the  days  appointed  for 
the  commemoration  of  the  deaths  of  saints  and  mar- 
tyrs. On  these  occasions  preaching  assumed  a  more  for- 
mal and  oratorical  character. 

It  may  seem  to  be  a  somewhat  extraordinary  fact  that 

few   or  hardly  none  of  the  actual  sermons  of  this  first 

_  period  of  the  Church  have  come  down  to  us. 

sermons      This    probably   was    due    to    the    fact    that 

of  this        preaching  was  so  spontaneous,  so  purely  a 

period        moving  of  the  Spirit,  that   it  did  not  take 

ex  an  .       on    a   literary  form    that  could   be   handed 

down.     And  it  must   also  be  said  that  the  first  preachers 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHIXG.  53 

trusted  little  to  human  art  ;  but,  as  Greek  culture  pre- 
vailed, the  necessity  of  more  attention  to  form  is  ap- 
parent. 

We  will  notice,  and  that  in  a  very  brief  manner,  but 
three  examples  of  the  more  noted  preachers  of  this 
period — viz.,  Clement  of  Rome,  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
and  Tertullian.  Yet  let  us  not  forget  the  first  artless, 
spontaneous,  free  and  varied  forms  of  Christian  preach- 
ing, nor  consider  that  our  formal  sermons  or  regular  ora- 
tions from  the  pulpit  on  the  Lord's  day  are  the  only,  or 
even  the  most  primitive  and  apostolic  way,  of  preaching 
the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God  to  men  ;  and  this  fact 
steadily  borne  in  mind  may  keep  us  from  becoming 
stereotyped,  formal,  and  scholastic  preachers  of  the  living 
word  of  God.  We  should  strive  to  be  free  men  in 
Christ  Jesus,  though  all  the  rules  of  all  the  schools  be 
broken. 

Clement,  Bishop  of  Rome,  has  been   supposed  to  be 

the  same  Clement  who  is  spoken  of  in  Philippians  4  :  3, 

and  to  have  lived  in  close  intimacy  with  the 

1  1  -1  r     1  TT  Clement 

apostles,  or  at  least  with  two  ot  them.      He        ,  Rome 

was  probably  the  third  bishop  of  Rome. 
Within  these  last  yearshis  very  house  is  said  to  have  been 
discovered,  under  whose  roof  the  apostle  Paul  may  have 
met  the  little  church  that  was  planted  in  Rome  ;  and  in 
much  that  he  says  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  earlier  times 
of  the  Christian  Church,  and  its  trials,  persecutions,  and 
customs.  He  was  a  teacher  in  whose  discourses  and  let- 
ters (we  do  not  refer  to  the  so-called  Clementine  Epistles, 
which  were  undoubtedly  written  by  some  Ebionitish 
Christian)  there  is  a  pure  evangelic  spirit./  He  is  eth- 
ical rather  than  doctrinal.  His  epistle  to  the  church  of 
Corinth  is  evidently  more  of  a  "  homily"  or  "  sermon" 
than  an  epistle,  and  is  perhaps  the  oldest  form  of  a  Chris- 


54  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

tian  homily  extant  after  the  time  of  the  apostles.  That 
which  is  named  the  Second  Epistle  of  Clement  is  mani- 
festly nothing  but  the  fragment  of  a  homily.'  These  dis- 
courses, as  well  as  the  discourses  of  the  earliest  Christian 
preachers  after  the  apostles,  are  remarkable  for  their  pop- 
ular setting  forth  of  the  virtue  or  holiness  or  divine  char- 
ity of  the  Christian  life — of  the  very  spirit  and  essence  of 
the  Gospels.  Some  of  his  sentences  in  praise  of  Christ's 
divinity  are  of  considerable  power  and  eloquence."  He 
deprecates  strife'  over  the  bishop's  ofifice  which  had 
already  arisen,  and  is  strenuous  with  almost  an  apostle's 
strength  in  regard  to  the  purity  of  the  ministerial  func- 
tion. He  is  at  times  full  of  burning  vigor  of  language. 
He  says  :  "  Let  him  that  hath  love  in  Christ  fulfil  the 
commandments  of  Christ.  Who  can  declare  the  bond  of 
the  love  of  God  ?  Who  is  sufificient  to  tell  the  majesty 
of  its  beauty  ?  The  height  Avhereunto  love  exalteth  is 
unspeakable.  Love  joineth  us  unto  God  ;  love  covereth 
a  multitude  of  sins  ;  love  endureth  all  things,  is  long- 
sufTering  in  all  things.  There  is  nothing  coarse,  nothing 
arrogant  in  love.  Love  hath  no  divisions  ;  love  maketh 
no  sedition  ;  love  doeth  all  things  in  concord.  In  love 
were  all  the  elect  of  God  made  perfect  ;  without  love 
nothing  is  well-pleasing  to  God  ;  in  love  the  Master  took 
us  unto  himself  ;  for  the  love  which  he  had  toward  us 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  hath  given  his  blood  for  us  by  the 
will  of  God,  and  his  flesh  for  our  flesh,  and  his  life  for 
our  lives.  Ye  see,  dearly  beloved,  how  great  and  mar- 
vellous a  thing  is  love,  and  there  is  no  declaring  its  per- 
fection. Who  is  sufficient  to  be  found  therein,  save 
those  to  whop!  God   shall  vouchsafe  it  ?     Let  us  there- 


'  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hl^t.,"  v.  i,  p.  659. 
*  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  106. 


HISTORY   OF  r  REACH  INC.  55 

fore  entreat  and  ask  of  his  mercy  that  we  may  be  found 
blameless,  standing  apart  from  the  factiousness  of  men. 
All  the  generations  from  Adam  unto  this  day  have 
passed  away,  but  they  that  by  God's  grace  were  perfect- 
ed in  love  dwell  in  the  abode  of  the  pious  ;  and  they 
shall  be  made  manifest  in  the  visitation  of  the  kingdom 
of  God." 

Clement  of  Alexandria  was  born  about  150A.D.,  and 
lived  during  the  reigns  of  Severus  and  Caracalla.      His 

works,  as  now  existing,  are  very  fragment- 

'  o  y  o  Clement  of 

ar>^  and  are  chiefly  of  an  apologetic  charac-    Alexandria. 
ter.      His   style    is    discursive     and    wants 
method,  but  there  are  passages— probably  first  delivered 
as  sermons — of   extraordinary  vigor.     The   literary  and 
philosophic   elements  are  kept  in   subordination   to  the 
Christian  and  spiritual.     But  the  philosophical  element 
is  marked  :  thus  he  dwells  with  some  force  of  reasoning 
upon  the  influence  of  the  "  Logos,"  or  "  Divine  Word," 
as  the  image  of  God  in  man,  as  God's  essential  wisdom, 
as  the   light   leading   to  a  higher  knowledge  of  divine 
things,  or  the  true  yvoDOi^.     He  was  engaged  mind  and 
soul  in  fighting  gnosticism.     He  is  occasionally  declama- 
tory and  repetitious,  as  if  his  addresses  were  originally 
extemporaneous.      Origen  was  his  disciple,    and   he    is 
thought  to  have  given  the  stimulus  to  Origen's  mind, 
even  as  TertuUian  did  to  Cyprian's  mind,  showing  the 
sway  exerted  by  one  great  preacher  over  another  down 
the  ages,  as  was  also  marked  in  the  influence  of  Augus- 
tine upon  Luther. 

Quintus  Septimius  Florens   Tertullianus,  who  belongs 
to  the  later  half  of  the  second  century,  exerted  an  im- 
mense moulding  power  upon  the  discipline     -y  ^  yy  ^ 
and  moral  culture  of  the  Western  Church, 
which  afterward  developed  into  the  asceticism  of  the  mo- 


56  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

nastic  systems.     He  was  the  son  of  a  proconsul  stationed 
at  Carthage,  and  was  bred  a  rhetorician,   or  advocate. 
He  did  not  embrace  Christianity  until   the  full  age  of 
manhood,  and  then  he  confessed  it  with  the  whole  energy 
of  his  being.     Tertullian  was  well  acquainted  with  philos- 
ophy, but  at  the  same  time  he  despised  it  as  an  endless 
source  of  error  and  heresy  ;    and  (until  his  own  partial 
defection  from  the  faith)  he  sought  his  inspiration  from 
the  word  of  God'^and  the  best  Christian  writings.    "  What 
must  render  this  man  a  phenomenon  presenting  special 
claims  to  attention  is  the  fact  that  his  Christianity  is  the 
inspiring  soul  of  his  life  and  thoughts  ;  that  out  of  Chris- 
tianity an  entirely  new  and  rich  inner  world  developed 
itself  to  his  mind  ;  but  the  leaven  of  Christianity  had 
first  to  penetrate    through    and   completely  refine  that 
fiery,  bold,  and  withal  rugged  nature.     We  find  the  new 
wine  in   an  old  bottle,   and  the  tang  which  it  contracted 
there  may  easily    embarrass  the  inexperienced  judge." 
His  dogmatic  or  doctrinal  teaching  was  free,  and  perhaps 
of  no  great  theol9gical  weight,  but  his  ethical  teaching 
was  of  the  most  earnest  character,  and  into  that  he  threw 
his  whole  energy.      He  outdid   in  severeness  the  moral 
standard  of  the  gospel   itself.     He  carried  his  ideas  of 
the  supreme  virtue  of  chastity  to  such  a  pitch  that  he 
regarded   marriage  as  a  degradation  of  the  soul.     It  is 
worth  noticing  that  those  of  his  writings  which  bear  the 
false  stamp  of  Montanism  may  be    easily    distinguished 
from  his  purer  Christian  writings  and  discourses.'     As  a 
preacher  or  orator  he  had  a  sharp  penetration  and  a  fiery 
phantasy,  v.'hich  gave  him  vivid  and  original  conceptions 
of  spiritual  truth.'     He  had   wit,   irony,   sarcasm,  and  a 


'  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  v.  i.  p.  683.  '^  Id.,  p.  684. 

'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  124. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  57 

rough  positive  assertion  that  carried  all  before  it — in  fine, 
great  qualities  and  great  faults. 

His  style  was  mixed,  obscure,  profound,  full  of  dark- 
ness as  well  as  light,  of  glowing  depth  as  well  as  celestial 
height.  His  Latin  is  pervaded  with  Punic  corruptions, 
but  through  all  shines  his  great  genius  resplendent.  He 
was  a  tower  of  strength  to  his  friends,  and  a  terrible 
adversary  to  his  enemies.  His  most  eloquent  sermons 
were  those  De  Spcctaculis,  in  which  his  soul  was  moved 
against  the  licentiousness  of  the  heathens,  and  especially 
against  the  gladiatorial  shows  of  the  ferocious  Roman 
civilization.  As  a  brief  illustration  of  the  vivid  and  fervid 
character  of  his  pulpit  eloquence  we  give  the  close  of  one 
of  his  sermons  on  "  Repentance,"  in  which  he  employs 
the  tremendous  illustration  of  the  recent  destruction  of 
Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  by  an  eruption  of  Mount 
Vesuvius  ;  and  he  applies  this  in  way  of  warning  to 
catechumens,  and  says  to  them  : 

"  Think  much  on  hell-fire,  which  this  repentance  alone 
can  quench.  Set  before  you  the  greatness  of  the  punish- 
ment of  hell,  so  that  you  shall  not  delay  to  lay  hold  of 
the  salvation  which  Heaven  stretches  out  to  you.  What 
a  prison-house  of  eternal  fire  that  must  be,  if  even  by  one 
of  its  flues  such  flames  burst  forth  that  cities  are  totally 
destroyed,  or  lie  in  constant  peril  of  destruction  !  The 
highest  mountains,  pregnant  with  fire,  are  rent  asunder, 
and  who  can  fail  to  see  in  these  heaving  and  devouring 
mountains  the  symbols  of  everlasting  hell  ?  Who  can 
fail  to  regard  such  sparks  as  messengers  of  an  endlessly 
great  multitude,  and  as  threatening  foretokens  of  the 
*  wrath  to  come.'  "  ' 


'  Paniel's  "Gesch.,"  p.    133;  see  also  Moule,   "  Chr.  Or.,"  pp.  83, 

84,  86,  87. 


56 


HOMILETICS   PROPER. 


nastic  systems.      He  was  the  son  of  a  proconsul  stationed 
at  Carthage,  and  was  bred  a  rhetorician,   or  advocate. 
He  did  not  embrace  Christianity  until   the  full  age  of 
manhood,  and  then  he  confessed  it  with  the  whole  energy 
of  his  being.     Tertullian  was  well  acquainted  with  philos- 
ophy, but  at  the  same  time  he  despised  it  as  an  endless 
source  of  error  and  heresy  ;    and  (until  his  own  partial 
defection  from  the  failh)  he  sought  his  inspiration  from 
the  word  of  God^and  the  best  Christian  writings.    "  What 
must  render  this  man  a  phenomenon  presenting  special 
claims  to  attention  is  the  fact  that  his  Christianity  is  the 
inspiring  soul  of  his  life  and  thoughts  ;  that  out  of  Chris- 
tianity an  entirely  new  and  rich  inner  world  developed 
itself  to  his  mind  ;  but  the  leaven  of  Christianity  had 
first  to  penetrate    through    and   completely  refine  that 
fiery,  bold,  and  withal  rugged  nature.     We  find  the  new 
wine  in   an  old  bottle,  and  the  tang  which  it  contracted 
there  may  easily    embarrass  the  inexperienced  judge." 
His  dogmatic  or  doctrinal  teaching  was  free,  and  perhaps 
of  no  great  theolggical  weight,  but  his  ethical  teaching 
was  of  the  most  earnest  character,  and  into  that  he  threw 
his  whole  energy.      He  outdid   in  severeness  the  moral 
standard  of  the  gospel   itself.     He  carried  his  ideas  of 
the  supreme  virtue  of  chastity  to  such  a  pitch  that  he 
regarded  marriage  as  a  degradation  of  the  soul.     It  is 
worth  noticing  that  those  of  his  writings  which  bear  the 
false  stamp  of  Montanism  may  be    easily    distinguished 
from  his  purer  Christian  writings  and  discourses.''     As  a 
preacher  or  orator  he  had  a  sharp  penetration  and  a  fiery 
phantasy,  v.'hich  gave  him  vivid  and  original  conceptions 
of  spiritual  truth.'     He  had   wit,    irony,    sarcasm,  and   a 


ll 


'  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  v.  i.  p.  683. 
'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  124. 


2  Id.,  p.  684. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACH[.\'G.  59 

The  expository  method  of  Origen  characterized  the 
preaching  of  the  third  and  succeeding  centuries.  In- 
stead, however,  at  first  of  there  being  much 

1  .  ^      f   i.1      i      ..    /'-^  •      „       Influence 

unity  in  the  treatment  of  the  text,  Origen 

•'  01  Ungen  s 

and  his  school  followed  the  habit  of  parcel-       method. 

ling  out  and  dismembering  the  original  text, 

in  this  way  making  many  distinct  homilies  upon  every 

member  or  separate  clause.     There  was  no  formal  unity 

in    the    discourse,  no   grouping   together   of   the    whole 

chapter  or  book. 

The  expository  method  of  Origen  was  also  combined 

with  an  allegorical  mode  of  treating  the  Scriptures.     The 

alleeory  was  indeed  used  by  Christ  himself 

•  The 

and    by   his   apostles  ;     it    was    a    favorite  „        .    , 

■'                *■  allegorical 

method  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets,  nor  method. 
was  it  opposed  to  the  usage  of  classical 
teaching,  as  may  be  seen  pre-eminently  in  the  writings  of 
Plato  ;  but  never  was  this  method  carried  to  such  an  ex- 
tent as  by  Origen  and  his  school,  who  seized  especially 
upon  the  fruitful  field  of  the  Old  Testament,  from  a  New 
Testament  point  of  view.  This  allegorizing  interpreta- 
tion ran  into  the  greatest  extravagances,  often  going 
through  whole  books  of  Scripture.  It  must  be  said, 
however,  of  Origen  himself  (of  whom  we  shall  speak 
more  circumstantially)  that  he  was  a  true  Christian 
preacher,  striving  earnestly  to  come  at  the  original  truth 
of  Scripture,  and  making  the  word  of  God  the  ground- 
work of  a  certain  prophetical  and  spiritual  analogy,  or 
allegory,  not  being  content  with  the  literal  truth. 

The  riches  of  Christian  philosophy  began  also  to  be 
opened,  and  the  rationale  of  the  system  of  divine  re- 
demption to  be  discussed.  The  theory  of  Christianity 
was  viewed  in  the  light  of  a  new  philosophy.  Conflicts 
with  heathen   systems  and  schools,  and  also  attempts  to 


6o  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

harmonize  Christianity  with  Greek  philosophy,  Increased 

this  tendency  ;  and  we  see,  especially  in  the  sermons  of 

the  Alexandrian  school,  as  well   as  in  the 

^  .        discourses  of   Hippolytus,  this  marked   ten- 
philosophical 

.         ,        dency  to  philosophical  preaching.     Christian 

thought  met  pagan  thought,  and  annihilated 
it  when  false,  or  assimilated  and  sanctified  it  when  true. 
In  the  hands  of  less  serious  teachers,  preaching  already 
began  to  admit  of  the  admixture  of  corrupt  speculation  ; 
there  sprang  up  the  custom  of  public  and  private  teach- 
ing of  exoteric  and  esoteric  truth,  until  at  length  the 
pure  character  of  early  evangelical  preaching  was  much 
obscured. 

Although  the  laity  retained  for  a  long  time  their  right 
to  preach,  "  they  were  at  length  circumscribed  in  many 

Preaching  ways,  and  were  not  permitted  to  preach  in 
of  the  the  church  itself,  but  in  the  baptistery  or 
lai^^y-  some  building  connected  with  the  church," 
and  only  in  the  presence  of  the  bishop.  But  preaching 
gradually  began  to  be  confined  to  the  "presbyters," 
and  in  many  cases  the  bishops  themselves  strove,  often 
with  success,  to  monopolize  altogether  the  preaching 
office. 

Already  in  the  reigns  of  the  emperors  Philip,  Alex- 
ander Severus,  and  Galerius,  Christians  were  permitted 

^,       ,        to  build  and  occupy  church  edifices  of  con- 
Church  ^  ■' 

edifices—     siderable  size  and  beauty,  as  the  one  built  in 

times  of      280  in  Nicomedia,  and  in  320  at  Tyre.'  They 

preaching—   did  not,  singularly  enough,  take  possession 

posture  of     ^^  ^j^^  pagan  temples  when  permitted  after- 
Audience 

ward  to  do  so,  which  indeed  were  unfitted, 

by  their  closeness  and  narrowness,  for  Christian  popular 

'  Moule,  p.  53. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  ui 

worship,  but  rather  of  the  basilicas,  which  afforded  lar^jc 
spaces  for  the  gathering  of  great  assembUes,  and  which, 
it  is  a  familiar  fact,  became  the  architectural  type  of  the 
Christian  church  edifice  down  to  the  present  day. 

As  to  the  times  and  seasons  in  which  preaching  was 
held,  when  Christianity  acquired  more  power  and  free- 
dom, the  number  of  festival  days  was  greatly  multiplied. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  and  in  the  earlier 
times,  preaching  in  many  assemblies,  as  we  have  already 
said,  was  held  every  day  ;  but  as  the  societies  of  Chris- 
tians became  more  scattered  the  number  of  days  on 
which  service  was  held  grew  less. 

In  addition  to  the  Sunday  services  and  the  regular 
feast  and  fast  days,  baptismal  services,  commemoration 
occasions,  saints'  and  martyrs'  days,  all  were  accompanied 
by  preaching.'  The  preacher  was  the  central  personage, 
and  the  preaching  service  began  to  be  of  considerable 
length,  as  was  the  case  with  Origen's  sermons.  Several 
consecutive  sermons  were  often  delivered  by  different 
preachers  to  the  same  assembly,  the  sermons  being  brief. 
The  people  during  the  preaching,  as  was  the  case  in  the 
ancient  Jewish  synagogue,  stood — or  if  occasionally  they 
were  seated  they  all  rose  at  the  reading  of  the  Gospels — 
while  the  preacher  sat. 

During  the  third  and  fourth  centuries  there  were  great 
changes  wrought  in  the  method  of  preaching — in  fact,  in 
its  very  theory.     From  its  being  of  an  art- 
less character,  preaching  began  to  be  built  °  . 
'  ^                &        &                                    wrought  in 

upon  an  oratorical  form.     It  took  more  and     preaching, 
more  the  shape  of  the  intellectual  produc- 
tions of  the  highest  classical  civilization  of  the  day.     It 
began  to  vie  with  the  performances  of  the  Greek  rheto- 


'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  i6i. 


62  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

rician  and  orator,  bringing  in  all  the  helps  to  be  derived 
from  learning  and  eloquence. 

Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  of  Origen's  school,  deliberately 
constructed  many  of  his  sermons  upon  approved  Greek 
models  of  eloquence,  in  which  not  only  the  rhetorical  but 
the  philosophical  element  was  introduced  ;  and  yet  the 
original  idea  of  the  spiritual  character  of  preaching,  and 
of  dependence  upon  the  Spirit,  was  not  yet  altogether 
lost  sight  of.' 

Origen  speaks  even  of  a  true  **  prophesying"  being 
still  to  be  found  or  hoped  for  in  preaching,  but  not  as 
taking  the  place  entirely  of  human  gifts  and  studies.  He 
says,  "  Sed  in  his  qiiccritiir^  si  potest  esse  aliquid  in  nobis 
vcl  ex  nobis  propJietici^  speeies,  qiiee  non  totnin  Jiabeat  ex 
Deo  sed  aliquantulnni  etiain  ex  Jimnanis  stiidiis  capiat. 
Paul,  he  thought,  spoke  of  this  kind  of  prophesying 
(l  Cor.  12  :  31)  :  "  But  covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts"  ; 
which,  according  to  14  :  i,  meant  prophesying  :  "  Follow 
after  charity,  and  desire  spiritual  gifts,  but  rather  that  ye 
may  prophesy."  This  is  not  the  prophecy  spoken  of 
in  Luke  16  :  16  :  "  The  law  and  the  prophets  even  until 
John,"  but  in  i  Cor.  14  :  3  ;  "  But  he  that  prophesieth 
speaketh  unto  men  to  edification,  and  exhortation,  and 
comfort." 

This  ability  of  "  prophesying"  could  be  won,  accord- 
ing to  Origen's  belief,  through  study,  on  the  condition 
that  the  study  be  earnestly  and  believingly  pursued  to 
the  end  of  preaching  God's  truth,  and  to  its  human  re- 
sults God  would  add  what  comes  directly  from  him — the 
prophetic  gift,  or  literally  in  his  words  (Commentar.  ad 
Rom.)  :  ''  Et  ideo  adJiibej'e  studiuni  ad  Jnijuscemodi  pro- 
phetiani  possibile    nobis  est,  et  est  in   nostra  potestate,  ut 

'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  i66. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  63 

nobis  in  h(2c  opcram  dantibtis,  sc  secundum  rationcin  vcl 
vicsurani  fidci  facinius,  addatur  ct  ilia,  qua  ex  Deo  est, 
prophet  ia, "  ' 

Thus  Origen  laid  the  groundwork  of  Christian  elo- 
quence— of  the  inspired  eloquence  of  the  pulpit — on  the 
theory  that  unto  the  most  earnest,  the  most  skillful,  and 
the  most  conscientious  use  of  the  human  powers  in  the 
interpretation  of  God's  word  and  the  preaching  of  his 
truth  to  men,  the  spiritual  gift  from  God — the  prophetic 
gift — would  be  added  ;  and  every  true  preacher,  even  the 
humblest,  might  thus  obtain  this  gift  of  prophecy.  This 
is  a  pregnant  thought,  and  might  be  applied  to  modern 
times  and  to  all  time. 

In  regard  more  particularly  to  the  Western  Church 
during  the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  although  preach- 
ing was  kept  up,  yet  it  was  more  irregular 

and  rare  than  in  the  Eastern  Church.     But  P^-^^^^hing  of 
.  .  the  Western 

that  It  was  mamtained  we  have  many  proofs.       rhurch 

Thus  Cyprian  admonishes  bishops  not  only 

to  instruct  others,  but  to  learn  themselves,  in  order  that 

they  may  the  better  instruct  others.      He  speaks  of  the 

preaching  {tractare)  of  the  bishops,  and  he 

complains  that  the  presbyters  and  deacons        ^  irregu- 
11  1     1       f-      •  1  larity  and 

neglected  to  expound  the  bcriptures,  and  to       variety 

exhort,  which  duty  belonged  to  their  office. 
And  so  toward  the  end  of  this  period  Lactantius  speaks 
indirectly  of  Christian  preachers,  although  he  says  they 
are  seldom  cultivated  and  eloquent  men  ;  and  immedi- 
ately after  this  epoch  (350),  Hilarius  in  his  homiletical 
writings  gives  us  a  long  list  of  preachers.  During  this 
period  there  was  a  great  strife  between  the  "  bishops" 
and  the  "  presbyters,"  on  this  very  question  of  the  right 


'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  167. 


64  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

to  preach,   which   ended    in   the  presbyters  yielding  up 
the  right  to  preach  without  the  consent  of  the  bishops, 
~\-  strife        ^^  ^^^  great  detriment   of  preaching  and  of 

between  Christianity,'  In  such  circumstances  pulpit 
bishops  and  eloquence  could  not  thrive.  While  parties 
presbyters.  ^^^  ^^  clergy  strove  for  the  very  right  to 
preach,  it  was  not  likely  that  preaching  itself  would  be 
much  cultivated  and  ennobled.  And  when  at  last  the 
presbyters  had  succumbed  to  the  bishops  on  this  point, 
the  bishops  had  drawn  upon  themselves  so  much  of  other 
ecclesiastical  power  and  business  that  they  had  no  time 
to  study  and  improve  their  preaching  ability.  The  ordi- 
nary membership  of  the  Church  became  more  and  more 
used  to  receive  from  their  clergy  the  ofifices  of  outward 
ceremonials,  of  prayers  and  forms,  and  thus  they  them- 
selves gradually  lost  the  desire  to  hear  preaching.  The 
feast  and  fast  seasons  began  also  to  be  so  multiplied 
that  the  physical  effort  to  sustain  these  ceremonials 
made  the  preaching  service  very  short,  and  sometimes 
altogether  prohibited  it,  as  says  Sozomenus  somewhat 
later  in  regard  to  the  Western  Church. 

The  most  important  feature  in  the  preaching  of  the 

Western    Church    Avas    doubtless    the    moral    element. 

What    was     in     Origen     and    the  Oriental 

Moral        preachers  a  kind  of  mystical  or  ideal  virtue, 

element       ^^,^g  jj^  ^j^^  Western  Church  a  more  outward 

in  the  ,  .      ,  , .  ,        .  ,      . 

-^  and    practical    quality,    having    relation    to 

Church.       church   life  and  discipline,    and   running  at 
length  into  asceticism,  or  the  idea  of  sancti- 
fying the  soul  through  bodily  mortification. 

The  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  present  a  field  for  Chris- 
tian eloquence  opened  through  the  previous  influence  of 


'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  219. 


HISTORY  OF  r REACHING.  65 

Origen  upon  the  style  and  method  of  preaching,  which, 
with  all  its  marked  faults,  was  rarely  if  ever  surpassed  ; 
and  this  was  the  epoch  of  the  great  patris- 
tic preachers;  but   it  was,  after  all,  a  tran-   A  transition 

sition  period,  in  which  the  former  simpler  P^"°<*  *"  ^"e 
,  ,    1  1-     1  r  1  ■  form  of  the 

and    more     bibiical    system     of     preachm^i^ 

■'  r  fc>        sermon. 

culminated  (perhaps  in  some  respects  we 
might  say  fossilized)  into  the  regular  sermon.  Yet  the 
sermon  was  long  in  reaching  the  idea  (rhetorically)  of  a 
perfect  discourse  pervaded  by  a  law  of  unity,  and  spring- 
ing from  a  deeper  insight  of  the  theme.  It  continued  to 
be  for  a  long  time  in  the  form,  of  a  running  exposition,  in 
which  thought  was  awakened  and  the  heart  was  warmed, 
and  an  oratorical  element  was  gradually  introduced. 
But  as  the  Church  emerged  into  more  freedom  and  open- 
ness of  belief,  and  persecution  was  lifted,  the  style  of 
preaching  became  naturally  more  and  more  in  harmony 
with  the  current  forms  of  persuasive  address,  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  rhetorical  rules  and  Greek  culture. 

When,  in  the  time  of  Constantine,  Christianity  became 
the    religion    of   the    state,  a  new    era  was   inaugurated 
for    the    eloquence  of  the    pulpit,   in    some 
respects    marking  an   advance,    in    others  a      Influence 

decadence.      Christianity,    in    Constantine's  ° 

r       •       ir  ,  1  outward 

reign,  got  rest  for  itself,  and  spoke  out  more       events 

calmly  and  boldly  from  the  pulpit  ;  but 
heathen  and  philosophical  opposition  was  still  active, 
and  preaching  was  more  and  more  forced  into  a  dialectic 
and  polemic  current.  Especially  in  the  reign  of  Julian 
at  the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  the  ideas  of  heathen 
philosophy  received  a  new  impulse,  and  the  Christian 
preacher,  while  he  preached  now  without  fear,  yet  felt 
himself  called  upon  to  meet  every  objection,  to  harmo- 
nize faith  and  reason,  and  to  develop  a  higher  philoso- 


66  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

phy.     This  had  its  evil  and  its  good  effects  upon  preach- 
ing, while  a  speculative  spirit  was  thus  engendered,  yet 
at  the  same  time  there  began  to  be  a  more 

eo  ogica     systematic    teaching    of    the    doctrines    of 
type  of  ^ 

preaching.  Christianity,  and  the  theological  or  dog- 
matic element  was  developed.  Gregory 
iNazianzen  and  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  Athanasius,  and  Cyril 
i  of  Jerusalem,  and  other  illustrious  preachers  of  this 
period,  were  eminently  theological  preachers.  The  con- 
troversies upon  the  Trinity  and  the  Person  of  Christ, 
engaged  the  minds  both  of  preachers  and  people.  It 
was,  in  fact,  distinctively  the  theological  age.  The  ethi- 
cal, or  perhaps  in  m.any  instances  the  higher  spiritual 
element  did  not  flourish  as  in  the  earlier  ages,  when  men, 
suffering  persecution,  went  for  courage  and  hope  to  the 
pure  fountains  of  biblical  truth  ;  and  even  in  the  greatest 
preachers  Christian  spirituality  seemed  to  be  over- 
borne by  the  dogmatic  element.  In  the  practical  Chry- 
sostom,  who  came  after,  and  who  recognized  the  freedom 
of  the  will  as  the  foundation  of  morality,  the  ethical  ele- 
ment predominated  ;  and  in  all  true  preachers  since  his 
time  the  dogmatic  and  moral  elements  have  been  more 
or  less  bound  together,  and  have  not  suffered  such  an  un- 
natural divorce. 

Few  sermons  as  yet  had  one  definite  theme,  and  the 
preacher  Avas  only  careful  to  explain  the  connection  of 

the    verses  ;    or,    if   he   discoursed   upon    a 
The  theme.      ,  ,         ,  •  ,  ,  ,  •      r 

theme,  he   did    not   always   draw   it    from  a 

particular  text.  Gregory  Nazianzen  commences  a  ser- 
mon on  peace  in  this  way.  He  addresses  to  his  hearers 
the  apostolic  form  of  benediction  then  in  use — "  Peace  be 
unto  you  !  "   and  they  respond,  "  And  with  thy  spirit." 

He  then   proceeds  at  once  to  discourse  on  his  theme, 
upon  this  peace  which  had  just  been  pronounced  :   "  Be- 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  67 

loved  Peace,  thou  sweet  word  that  I  have  just  spoken  to 
the  people  and  heard  in  return  from  them.  I  know  not, 
it  is  true,  if  it  has  been  spoken  with  an  honest  and  wor- 
thy heart,  and  if  the  open  bond  of  peace  now  formed  has 
not  been  broken  in  the  secret  sight  of  God  ;  but,  dear 
Peace,  thou  that  art  my  daily  thought  and  my  ornament, 
that  art  inly  bound  up  wdth  the  being  of  God — since  we 
read  in  the  Scriptures  of  '  the  peace  of  God  '  and  '  the 
God  of  peace,'  and  '  he  is  our  peace  ' — and  yet  which  we 
so  little  honor  ;  thou  beloved  Peace,  praised  by  all  and 
possessed  by  few,  how  long  thou  hast  left  us  !  when  wilt 
thou  return  !"  ' 

This  bold  and  winning  freedom,  this  artless  speak- 
ing from  the  heart,  this  extempore  and  spiritual  manner 
of  address,  is  something  worthy  of  notice  in  the  earliest 
preachers,  before  everything  had  become  formal  and  sys- 
tematized in  the  style  of  sermonizing. 

In  many  instances,  however,  the  theme  of  the  dis- 
course was  distinctly  announced.  Thus  Basil  says,  at  the 
beginning  of  one  of  his  discourses  :  "  On  account  of  all 
the  incidents  which  I  have  witnessed  in  the  foregoing 
days,  I  will  speak  against  the  vice  of  drunkenness,  and 
let  your  ears  be  astonished."  ^ 

He  says  again,  in  preaching  upon  the  twenty-third 
Psalm  :  "  If  thou  wilt  hear  what  holy  fear  is,  attend  now 
to  me."  Chrysostom,  in  his  homily  upon  John,  15  :  26, 
27,  commences  thus  :  "  Since  it  is  not  unknown  to  any 
of  you  that  prayer  is  the  first  of  all  good  things,  so  I  was 
greatly  pressed  with  inward  desire  to  speak  to  you  who 
are  accustomed  to  worship  here,  upon  that  theme,  in 
order  that  I  might  make  you  still  more  zealous  in 
prayer. ' ' 

'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  271.  '  Id.,  p.  272. 


6S  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

In  the  panegyrical  discourses  the  theme  was  often  an- 
nounced, and  in  a  highly  rhetorical  manner.  Thus  Chry- 
sostom  begins  a  panegyrical  sermon  upon  the  martyr 
Stephen  with  these  words  :  "  Let  us  crown  Stephen  with 
the  flowers  of  eulogy,  and  let  us  bestrew  him  with  the 
roses  of  praise.  For  he  has  long  before  received  the 
real  crown  of  righteousness  which  belongs  to  those  who 
are  victors  in  the  good  fight  of  faith."  ' 

We  have  already  more  than  once  suggested  that  the 

evidences  of  rhetorical  culture  had   begun  to  appear  even 

in  these  early  times  in  preaching,  and,  in  fact, 

Evidences     during  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  and  fifth 

of  Art—      centuries  it  reached  its  height.     Of  course  in 

the    earliest    Christian   preaching,   certainly 

oratorical  i-"^til  the  period  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centu- 
diction.  ries,  we  cannot  look  for  much  of  art,  although 
there  was  eloquence  without  the  conscious- 
ness of  it.  The  preachers  were  generally  earnest  men, 
confessing  their  faith  at  the  peril  and  often  the  cost  of 
their  lives,  impelled  by  a  lofty  purpose  which  made  the 
mere  idea  of  art  seem  insignificant.  The  moral  element 
in  preaching  was  then,  as  it  always  will  be,  of  infinitely 
more  importance  than  the  artistic.  Preaching  was  per- 
suading men  to  secure  their  eternal  interests  by  accept- 
ing the  grace  and  salvation  which  Christ  the  incarnate 
Son  of  God  brought  them.  With  these  early  preachers 
the  end  absorbed  the  means.  They  were  too  much  taken 
up  with  the  real  claims  and  the  transcendent  truths  of 
Christianity  to  be  attentive  to  the  mere  art  of  discourse, 
or  oratory  ;  yet  there  was  then,  and  is  now,  such  a  thing 
as  eloquence  in  the  pulpit,  because  all  the  skill  of  man, 
all  his  powers  of  thought  and  art,  were  made  for  the 


'  Paniers  "  Gesch.,"  p.  273. 


HISTORY  OF   PREACHIXG.  69 

glory  of    God,  and  should   be  freely  consecrated  to  his 

service.     Both   in  form  and  diction,   sermons  began    to 

assume  the  appearance  of  art.     The  oratorical  period  of 

the  preaching  art,  with  all  its  merits  and  all  its  faults,  is 

to  be  found  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  from  the 

time  of   the  establishment   of    national  Christianity,    in 

about  the  year  324,  to  the  fall  of  the  Western  Empire. 

There  were,  however,  then  as  in  all  ages  of  the  Church, 

different  kinds  of  preachers — some  who  were  especially 

theological   preachers,    such   as    Athanasius 

and   the  two   Gregories,   and  also  in  many       aiieyin 

**  ^        style  of 

respects  Chrysostom.     There  were  also  the    oreachine 

practical  and  ethical  class  of  preachers,  such 
as  was  eminently  Chrysostom.     There  were  likewise  mys- 
tical preachers  like  Macarius,  and   ascetic  preachers,  as 
Tertullian. 

But  all  these  were  more  or  less  affected  by  the  Greek 
culture  ;  some  of  them,  who  were  rhetoricians  before  they 
became  preachers,  carrying  their  rhetorical  style  to  an 
extravagant  pitch,  as  did  Gregory  Nazianzen. 

As  to  the  topics  of  preaching  during  the  middle  and 

latter  parts  of  these  centuries,   one  author    thus  sums 

them  up  :   "  The  nature  and  destiny  of  the 

If  11-1  1  Topics  of 

soul,   future  rewards  and   punishments,  the  ,  . 

^  '  preaching. 

perfections    and    mercies    of   God,  repent- 
ance,  baptism,    forgiveness    of   sins,    the    creation,    the 
nature  of  man,   angels,  the    desperate  condition  of  evil 
spirits,  the  true  faith,  the  triumphs  of  the  Church,  and 
damnable  heresies." 

A  comprehensive  passage  from  Neander's  "  Church 
History"  gives  us  a  graphic  picture  of  the  preaching  of 
this  brilliant  period  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries. 

"  As  to  the  relation  of  the  sermon  to  the  whole  office  of 
M'orship,  this  is  a  point  on  which  we  meet  with  the  most 


70  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

opposite  errors  of  judgment.     Some,  who  looked  upon 
the  clergy  only  as  officiating  priests,  and  who  considered 

Neander's     ^^^'  "^^ii^  parts  of  Christian  worship  to  con- 
view  of  the    sist   in  the  magical    effects  of   the  priestly 
preaching  of  services,    were    hence    greatly    inclined    to 
IS  period,    overvalue  the  liturgical  element  of  worship. 

"  The  gift  of  teaching,  they  regarded,  as  something  for- 
eign from  the  spiritual  office,  as  they  supposed  the  Holy 
Ghost,  imparted  to  the  priestly  ordination,  could  be 
transmitted  to  others  only  by  his  sensible  mediation. 
Others,  however,  and  on  account  of  the  rhetorical  style 
of  culture  which  prevailed  among  the  higher  classes  in 
the  large  cities  of  the  East — this  was  especially  the  case 
of  the  Greek  Church — gave  undue  importance  to  the 
didactic  and  rhetorical  part  of  worship,  and  did  not  at- 
tach importance  enough  to  the  essentials  of  Christian 
fellowship  and  of  common  edification  and  devotion. 
Hence  the  church  would  be  thronged  when  some  famous 
speaker  vv^as  to  be  heard,  but  only  a  few  remained  be- 
hind when  the  sermon  was  ended,  and  the  church 
prayers  followed.  'The  sermon,'  said  they,  'we  can 
hear  nowhere  but  at  church  ;  but  we  can  pray  just  as 
well  at  home.'  Against  this  abuse  Chrysostom  had 
frequent  occasion  to  speak  in  his  discourses  preached  at 
Antioch  and  Constantinople.  Hence,  too,  without  re- 
gard to  the  essential  character  of  the  Church,  a  style 
borrowed  from  the  theatre  or  lecture-rooms  of  declaimers 
was  introduced  into  the  church  assemblies,  as  these 
were  frequented  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  some  orator 
celebrated  for  his  eloquent  language,  or  his  power  of 
producing  a  momentary  effect  on  the  imagination  or  the 
feelings.  Hence  the  custom  of  interrupting  such  speak- 
ers, at  their  more  striking  or  impassioned  passages,  with 
noisy  testimonials  of  approbation  {upoToi).     Vain  eccle- 


HISTORY  OF  PREACH  I XG.  71 

siastics,  men  whose  hearts  were  not  full  of  the  holy  cause 
they  professed,  made  it  the  chief  or  only  aim  of  their 
discourses  to  secure  the  applause  of  such  hearers,  and 
hence  labored  solely  to  display  their  brilliant  eloquence 
or  wit,  to  say  something  with  point  and  effect.  But 
many  of  the  better  class,  too — such  men  as  Gregory 
Nazianzen — could  not  wholly  overcome  the  vanity  which 
this  custom  tended  to  foster,  and  thus  fell  into  the  mis- 
take of  being  too  rhetorical  in  their  sermons.  Men  of 
holy  seriousness,  like  Chrysostom,  strongly  rebuked  this 
declamatory  and  theatrical  style,  and  said  that  through 
such  vanity  the  whole  Christian  cause  would  come  to  be 
suspected  by  the  heathens. 

"  Many  short-hand  writers  largely  employed  themselves 
in  taking  down,  on  the  spot,  the  discourses  of  famous 
speakers  in  order  to  give  them  a  wider  circulation.  The 
sermons  were  sometimes,  though  rarely,  read  off  entirely 
from  notes,  or  committed  to  memory  ;  sometimes  they 
were  freely  delivered  after  a  plan  prepared  beforehand  ; 
and  sometimes  they  were  altogether  extemporary.  The 
last  we  learn  incidentally,  from  being  informed  that 
Augustine  was  occasionally  directed  to  the  choice  of  a 
subject  by  the  passage  which  the  '  preelector  '  had  se- 
lected for  reading  ;  when,  as  he  tells  us,  he  was  some- 
times urged  by  some  impression  of  the  moment  to  give 
his  sermon  a  different  turn  from  what  he  had  originally 
proposed.  We  are  also  informed  by  Chrysostom  that  his 
subject  was  frequently  suggested  to  him  by  something 
which  he  met  \\\\.\\  on  his  way  to  church,  or  which  sud- 
denly occurred  during  divine  service."' 

We  will  now  mention  the  names  of  some  of  the  great 
preachers  of  the  third,  fourth,  and   fifth   centuries,  and 


'  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  v.  ii.   p.  316. 


72  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

comment  on  the  style  and  method  of  a  few  of  them,  par- 
ticularly of  Chrysostom  and  Au<,^ustine. 

Belonging    to     the    third     century   arc     Origen,    Hip- 
polytus,  Gregory    Thaumaturgus,   Dionysius  of  Alexan- 
dria, Methodius  of  Tyre,  and  Cyprian.     Of 
Eminent  ,    rr  i  •         •       i 

.  the    fourth    and  fifth   centuries,  in  the  order 

preachers.  ' 

of  their  lives,  are  Eusebiusof  Caesarea,  Atha- 

nasius  of    Alexandria,    Meletius  of    Antioch,    Macarius, 

called    "  the  Great,"    and    also    "  the    Ascetic  ;"  Cyril, 

Bishop  of  Jerusalem  ;   Ephraem  the  Syrian,  Basil,  called 

"the    Great,"   Bishop  of  Csesarea  ;   Gregory  Nazianzen, 

Gregory  of  Nyssa,  Amphilochius  of  Iconium,  Epiphanius 

of   Salamis,  Severianus  of  Gabala,   Theodosius  of  Mop- 

suestia,    John,    surnamed     Chrysostom,    Archbishop    of 

Constantinople  ;  Ambrose  of   Milan,  Liberius  of   Rome, 

Hilary    of    Tours,    Zeno   of    Verona,    Jerome,    Aurelius 

Augustine,  Bishop  of  Hippo. 

Origen  deserves  the  first  notice,  and  comes  also  first 

in   time,  and   one   might   say  in   dignity   and    worth — a 

representative  preacher,  and,  as  to   method 
Origen,  as  a  ,         ,         r     i  r  •  i  i 

eacher       ^         style,   the    father    oi    an    innumerable 

multitude  of  preachers  to  this  day.     Origen, 

some  authorities  state,  was  born  A. D.  185.   His  earnest  and 

resolute  character  as  a  champion  of  the  faith  made  him 

many  bitter  enemies,  who  strove  to  annihi- 
A  lav- 
oreacher       ^^^^  \\\m  and   his  works,  so  that  some  of  his 

most  important  writings  have  either  been 
destroyed  or  come  down  to  us  in  a  garbled  shape. 
Coleridge  lamented  the  loss  of  his  complete  "  Hexapla" 
as  being  greater  than  any  other  loss  which  biblical  litera- 
ture ever  sustained.  He  calls  Origen  the  only  scholar 
and  genius  combined,  among  the  fathers — a  somewhat 
prejudiced  opinion.  His  "Answer  to  Celsus"  was  one 
of  the  ablest  early  apologies  of  the  Christian  religion." 

*  Moiile,  pp.  78,  79. 


HISTORY   OF   PREACH IXG.  73 

Until  his  sixtieth  year  he  laid  his  prohibition  upon  his 
clerks  not  to  take  down  his  discourses,  but  then  relent- 
ing, above  a  thousand  of  his  homilies  were  taken  down. 
While  a  great  and  eloquent  preacher,  he  was  in  fact 
only  a  lay  preacher  ;  although  it  is  said  by  Rufifin  that 
Demetrius,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  authorized  Origen  to 
teach  as  a  catechist  in  the  Church,  which,  however,  cannot 
be  understood  as  one  teaching  publicly,  or  preaching  in 
our  sense  of  the  term.  "  As  a  lecturer  to  young  men 
his  ability  must  have  been  of  first-rate  order, 
inasmuch    as   he   succeeded   Clemens  (Alex-    Theological 

andrinus)  in   the   management   of   the  Cate-        ^*' 

.  rather  than 

chetical  school  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen,      oreacher 

recalling  to  our  minds  the  early  eminence  of 
Melancthon  in  another  age  of  the  Church  ;  and  also 
after  his  removal  to  Palestine  a  circle  of  youths  was 
always  about  him,  being  trained  under  his  influence  to 
fill  the  posts  of  theologians  and  preachers  to  the 
Church."  '  Origen,  in  fact,  must  be  looked  upon  as  a 
theological  teacher  rather  than  a  preacher  ;  but  he  was 
nevertheless  a  preacher  both  eloquent  and  vastly  influ- 
ential upon  the  preaching  of  his  time  and  of  succeeding 
ages. 

His  homilies  arc  imbedded  in  his  voluminous  writings 
and    commentaries,   numbering  some    thousands,  which, 
though    they   have  come    down    to    us    in    the   form   of 
commentaries,  have  still  a  homiletical  char- 
acter, and  were  most  of  them  undoubtedly    ^°'"'"  °     *^ 
J    ,.  ,  ,  ,  .  homilies 

delivered    as  sermons,   so  that  we    have   in  .  ..    ■ 

'  and  their 

them  true  transcripts  of  his  preaching.      His   preparation, 
preparation    for  the   work   of  teaching  and 
preaching  was  of  the  widest   and  most  generous  kind. 
"The  collation   of  manuscripts,"   he  said  of  himself, 


'  Moule's  "Oratory,"  p.  80. 


74  I/O  MILE  TICS    PROPER. 

"  leaves  me  hardly  time  to  eat,  and  after  meals  I  can 
neither  go  out  nor  enjoy  a  season  of  rest  ;  but  even  at 
these  times  I  am  compelled  to  continue  my  philological 
investigations  and  the  correction  of  manuscripts.  Even 
the  night  is  not  granted  me  for  repose,  but  a  great  part 
of  it  is  claimed  for  these  philological  inquiries.  I  will 
not  mention  the  time  from  early  in  the  morning  till  the 
ninth  and  sometimes  the  tenth  hour  of  the  day  ;  for  all 
who  take  pleasure  in  such  labors  employ  these  hours  in 
the  study  of  the  divine  word  and  in  reading."  '  Above 
all,  the  heart  of  a  true  Christian,  which  proved  itself  in 
firmly  enduring  persecution  and  in  innumerable  trials, 
was  in  Origen.  The  groundwork  of  all  his  preaching  was 
the  interpretation  of  the  word,  and  this, 
Groundwor  gygj-(  jj^  ]-,ig  widest  and  wildest  allegorizing, 
of  his  ^,     .     .  ,  -T 

,  .  saved  him  as  a  Christian  preacher.      He  was 

preaching.  ^ 

perhaps   in   style  and  m.anner  not  equal  as  a 

pulpit  orator  to  Basil,  the  Gregories,  and  Chrysostom,  of 

the   next  century.      His  illustrations,  for   instance,  show 

little  invention,  and  are  drawn  almost  exclu- 

His  style      sively  from  the  figures  and  pictures  found  in 

simp  e        j.|^g  Scriptures  ;  perhaps  this  was  a  matter  of 

rather  .      .    ,         •  ,     ,  •  -r.       ,  •  ,      • 

than         principle  with  him.       But  his   style   is  not, 

ornate.        rhetorically,  a  rich  or  eloquent  one,  but  sim- 
ple and  classic.      Though  his  tendency  was 
to  philosophical  speculation,  yet  his   reverence  for  the 
Scriptures  and  his  passion   for  interpretation  made  him 
the  founder  of  expository  preaching,  which  had  also  a 
strong  moral  aim,  and  which  exerted  a  vast  though  ir- 
As  an        regular  and  in  some  instances  not  altogether 
interpreter,    beneficial  influence.     "  l/^i  bene  nemo  melius 
tibi  male  nemo  pejus.''     But  the  Bible,  to  Origen,  was  an 


'  Moule's  "Oratory,"  p.  80. 


Ills  TORY  OF  PREACHING.  75 

inexhaustible  treasury  of  moral  and  spiritual  instruc- 
tion, though  drawn,  it  must  be  said,  sometimes  arbitrarily 
from  the  word.  The  Bible  had,  he  conceived,  a  three- 
fold meaning- — the  literal,  the  moral,  and  the 

...  1-         ^      -1       1     J  1       Threefold 

spiritual— correspondmg  to  the  body,  soul, 
^  r  o  •'  meaning  in 

and  spirit,  and  having  an  analogy  to  the  interpretation, 
threefold  distinction  of  the  divine  nature.' 
He  held  not  only  to  the  privilege  of  the  most  unlimited 
freedom  of  interpretation,  but  thought  this  freedom  to 
be  the  vital  point  of  true  preaching.  From  heavenly 
revelation  as  well  as  from  earthly  events — from  the  his- 
tories, laws,  and  biographies  of  the  Old  Testament  and 
the  facts  and  utterances  of  the  New— he  gathers  spiritual 
signification  and  teaching.  According  to  his  main  axiom, 
that  "  in  every  tittle  of  Holy  Scripture  there  must  be  a 
higher  sense,"  he  makes  every  part  of  the  word  a  theme 
for  developing  a  higher  knowledge  of  God,  The  higher 
or  spiritual  " gliosis."  Wherever  he  could  sense, 
surmise  the  likeness  of  spiritual  things  he  did  this,  not 
only  gladly  and  fearlessly,  but  as  a  true  principle  of  her- 
meneutics.  For  example,  in  a  sermon  on  the  history  of 
Lot  fleeing  from  Sodom,  he  interprets  the  narrative  as 
signifying  the  escape  of  the  soul  out  of  its  natural  and 
unregenerate  state  to  the  appointed  salvation  in  Christ. 
Lot's  wife  is  the  soul  looking  back,  or  its  yearning 
toward  worldly  pleasure — in  fact,  as  meaning  the  fleshly 
or  carnal  mind  which  is  left  behind.  "  Carno  est  cnini 
qucc  respicit  semper  ad  vitia,  qiicu  eian  animus  tendit  ad 
salutcjji  ilia  retrorsiim  respieit,  ct  voluptatcs  requtrit." 
The  pillar  of  salt  in  which  Lot's  wife  is  enveloped  is  the 
barren  folly,  the  bitter  unsatisfactoriness  of  worldly 
pleasures    and    pursuits.       The    story   of    Lot    and    his 


Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  iSi. 


70  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

daughters  signifies  the  dangers  that  follow  the  Christian 
whose  face  is  turned  Zion-ward,  from  carelessness,  the 
intemperate  use  of  wine,  or  any  inordinate  indulgence, 
whether  of  the  body  or  mind,  which,  while  he  thus  sleeps 
overcome  him  ;  and  whatever  is  produced  in  such  a  con- 
dition is  as  vain  and  accursed  as  the  race  of  Moab.  The 
close  of  this  homily  is  characteristic,  and  is  a  good  speci- 
men of  the  "  conclusion"  of  a  sermon,  in 
Specimen  of      ,  ,         ,   ^  .  ,    ,  .        .  ,,  „ 

, .  . .        the  mode  of  (Jrigen  and  his  times.         Do 

his  preaching.  '=> 

not  fail  to  remember,  my  hearers,"  he  says, 
"  what  I  have  said  to  you  in  respect  to  the  moral  sense 
of  this  history.  Remember  that  thou  too  flee  from  the 
earthly  fire  and  consuming  heat  of  wicked  lusts,  and 
that  thou  seek  the  height  of  true  knowledge  {ad  scicnticB 
altitiidineni),  like  the  height  of  a  mountain  summit  !  Be- 
ware lest  thou  be  accompanied  by  those  two  sisters. 
Ambition  and  her  greater  sister  Pride,  who  will  go  even 
up  the  mountain  with  you  in  order  to  lure  you  to  destruc- 
tion !  Beware  lest  these  daughters  of  your  own  sinful  heart 
make  you  drunken  and  destroy  you  with  their  embraces  ! 
They  are  indeed  our  own  daughters,  because  nothing 
outside  of  us  can  do  us  evil,  but  only  what  proceeds  from 
our  inmost  heart  and  thought.  But  wouldst  thou  beget 
aright,  beget  in  spiritual  things,  for  whosoever  sows  to 
the  Spirit  shall  of  the  Spirit  reap  life  everlasting. 
Wouldst  thou  embrace,  then  embrace  Wisdom,  and  name 
Wisdom  thy  sister,  so  that  Wisdom  may  say  to  you  (Matt. 
12  :  50),  '  For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother,  and  sister, 
and  mother.'  This  Wisdom  is  Christ  our  Lord,  to  whom 
be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen."  ' 
Passing  over  Hippolytus,  who  was  a  pupil  of  Origen, 


'  Paniel's  "Gesch.,"  p.  198. 


HISTORY  OF  rREACHING.  77 

and  took  him  for  liis  model,  and  who  possessed  distin- 

p-uished     learnincr   and    great    warmth    and 

f.     ,.  .   .      ^ .     ^.     "^        1      1       r  Hippolytus. 

hvehness  of  imagmation,  and  also  Gregory 

Thaumaturgus,  a  wonder-working  preacher,  we  will  speak 
a  few  words  of  Cyprian,  chiefly  as  a  preacher.  Thascius 
Ciicilius  Cyprianus,  Bishop  of  Carthage,  was  Cyprian  as  a 
born  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  preacher, 
of  illustrious  parentage.  He  had  a  careful  education, 
and  chose  the  profession  of  rhetorician,  and  was  em- 
ployed occasionally  as  an  advocate  in  pro-  His 
cesses  of  law.                                                                     biography. 

After  a  long  time  spent  in  heathenism  he  became 
deeply  impressed  with  the  virtuous  and  elevated  life  of 
many  Christians  in  his  neighborhood,  and  through  the 
special  instructions  of  the  presbyter  Cacilius  (whose 
name  he  took),  he  became  a  Christian  in  the  year  246. 
His  experience  of  sin,  and  the  worthlessness  of  a  trust  in 
human  righteousness,  were  strong.  He  put  great  faith  in 
his  Christian  baptism,  and  the  earnestness  and  devotion 
of  his  after  life  showed  that  the  change  in  him  was  a  real 
one.  To  make  the  contrast  between  his  former  luxuri- 
ous style  of  living  and  his  Christian  life  more  marked,  he 
parted  with  his  property,  distributing  it  among  the  poor. 
His  zeal  and  education  led  him  to  desire  the  office  of  a 
preacher.  In  247  he  was  made  presbyter,  and  in  248 
Bishop  of  Carthage.  He  was  beheaded  as  a  martyr  in 
the  persecution  under  Valerian,  about  the  year  258. 
Cyprian  was  a  good  man,  but  too  fond  of  power  ;  and  he 
stirred  up  the  envy  and  enmity  of  his  presbyteral  col- 
leagues, which  brought  upon  him  many  woes.  He  com- 
menced, in  fact,  a  life-long  war  with  the  college  of  pres- 
byters, and  was  one  means  of  building  up  the  hierarchical 
power  of  the  episcopate,  which  was  originally  only  that 
of  primus  inter  pares,  and  of  bringing  down  the  standard 


78  nOMILETICS    PROPER. 

of  "  presbyters"  or  simple  "  pastors."     He  adopted  in 

its   entireness   the   Levitical   idea   of   the    priesthood    as 

being   superior   to   all   other  classes,  and   as 

His  hierarchi-   standing  next  to  God  himself.     In  his  most 
c&l  vicviTS. 

reasonable  moods  he  himself  contended  for 

the  rights  of  the  people  as  a  co-ordinate  governing  power 
in  the  Church,  but  his  whole  life  strengthened  the  pre- 
rogative and  power  of  the  bishops.  He  also  contended  for 
the  outward  unity  of  the  Church,  and  the  salvability  of 
those  alone  who  were  in  the  pale  of  the  visible  Catholic 
Church.  In  spite  of  these  views,  which  foreshadowed  the 
rise  of  the  papacy,  he  accomplished  a  great  work  as  a 
preacher.  He  had  extraordinary  natural  gifts  as  an 
orator.      He  united  to  a  strong  practical  in- 

His  gifts      teiiect,    rich   in   original   ideas,    an    Oriental 
as  an  .  .        .  i  i    i        i       r 

imagmation  and  great  warmth  and  depth  ot 
orator.  t.  &  r 

feeling.  He  was  of  a  fervid  temperament, 
which  sometimes  carried  him  beyond  the  sway  of  reason, 
so  that  he  considered  some  of  his  own  utterances  to  be 
by  the  direct  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Without  a 
tendency  to  profound  doctrinal  speculation,  he  was  yet 
highly  intelligent  in  this  respect,  and  was  edifying  as  a 
teacher  of  truth  {diSaGKoikoi).  He  had  clear  conceptions, 
and  was  able  to  make  the  truth  stand  forth  vividly. 
While  he  had  something  of  the  fiery  temperament  and 
fancy  of  Tertullian,  yet,  on  the  whole,  he  was  more  mild, 
pleasing,  and  tranquil  than  Tertullian.  Gregory  Nazian- 
zen,  in  his  eulogy  of  him,  said,  "  Cyprian's  style  is  natural, 
varied,  and  pleasing,  and,  what  is  of  more  importance, 
the  predominant  qualities  of  his  thought  are  plainness 
and  correctness — the  fundamental  qualities  of  an  orator. 
And  you  would  find  it  difficult  to  decide  to  which  of  his 
qualities  you  would  assign  the  palm,  his  ornamental 
diction,  his  happy  exegesis,  or  his  art  of  powerful  persua- 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  79 

sion."  Lactantius  bears  witness  that  the  heathen  them- 
selves, though  they  despised  the  Christian  teaching,  were 
in  wonder  at  the  eloquence  of  Cyprian.  Jerome  is  un- 
qualified in  his  praise,  and  says,  "  Cyprian's 

1  A-      ^  4-1  >^      -ru  His  style, 

works  are  radiant   as   the   sun.         1  hey  are 

not,  however,  free  from  faults.  He  employed  Scripture 
in  too  loose  and  fanciful  a  manner,  making  unimportant 
particulars  bear  the  most  precise  and  weighty  meanings. 
No  meaning  seems  to  be  too  strained.  He  makes,  for 
example,  the  deluge  a  type  of  baptism  ;  Melchizedek's 
bringing  of  bread  and  wine  to  Abraham  is  a  symbol  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  ;  the  four  streams  of  paradise  are  the 
four  gospels,  etc.  While,  as  a  general  rule,  he  speaks  in 
noble  language,  yet  he  is  often  florid  and  fantastic.  The 
ethical  and  ecclesiastical  mostly  predominate  over  the 
spiritual.  Obedience  to  the  priesthood,  the  praise  of  mar- 
tyrdom, the  supreme  virtue  of  virginity,  are  his  favorite 
themes.  One  of  his  most  eloquent  discourses  was  upon 
death  {de  viortalitatc),  preached  in  the  period 

of  a  great  pestilence.     It  abounds  in  visor- 

,^  **  of  his  style, 

ous  language.      "  He  who  fights  under  God 

{(jiii  Deo  viilitaf),  and  as  a  soldier  in  the  heavenly  camp, 
already  has  conceived  a  godlike  hope,  and  must  be  pre- 
pared to  meet  the  tempest  of  this  worldly  life  fearlessly. 
For  with  provident  voice  {providcc  vocis)  has  the  Saviour 
foretold  whatever  shall  come  to  pass.  For  the  instruc- 
tion of  his  people  he  has  plainly  taught  them  that  they 
must  endure  war,  hunger,  earthquake,  and  pestilence. 
And  that  these  vanishing  things  may  not  too  greatly  dis- 
turb us  he  has  predicted  that  these  afflictions  should 
more  and  more  increase  in  the  last  days.  Behold  how 
the  Lord  has  foretold  what  has  even  now  come  to  pass. 
And  he  has  said  (Luke  21),  '  But  when  ye  see  these 
things,  know  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  near  at  hand.' 


8o  HO  MILE  TICS   PROPER. 

Beloved,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  near  at  hand.  Already 
the  passing  away  of  this  world,  the  recompense  and  the 
joy  of  everlasting  life,  and  the  possession  of  the  early-lost 
paradise,  are  nigh  ;  already  heavenly  things  succeed 
earthly,  great  things  small,  eternal  temporal.  Where  is 
there  reason  for  anguish  and  fear  ?  Who  that  does  not 
fail  in  all  hope  and  all  faith  can  be  sorrowful  and  trem- 
bling under  such  circumstances  ?  He  alone  should  fear 
death  who  will  not  come  to  Christ  ;  for  he  who  comes  to 
Christ  hopes  also  to  reign  with  him."  ' 

Eusebius  of  Caesarea  strove  after  elegance  and  splendor 
of  diction,  and  lacked  plainness  and  practical  directness. 

.  ,  Athanasius   was    "  the    practical    informing 

Athanasius. 

mind  of  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  century." 

He  was  a  man  of  most  commanding  personality,  indomi- 
table will,  and  remarkable  power  over  other  minds.     We 
think   of  him   rather  as  a  church  leader,  a 
Theologian    dialectician    and    a    theologian    than    as    a 
rather  than  ^,  ,  .,  i        r    i  i 

oreacher      preacher.      1  hough    a    terrible     fighter,    he 

showed  Christian  generosity  at  the  death  of 
his  arch-foe  Arius,  and  feared  lest  he  might  seem  to 
triumph  over  the  death  of  his  adversary.  "  Death,"  he 
said,  "  is  the  common  lot  of  all  men.  We  should  never 
exult  over  the  death  of  any  man,  even  though  he  be  our 
bitter  enemy,  since  no  one  can  know  but  that  before  the 
day  is  done  the  same  fate  may  be  his  own."  He  was  an 
acute  reasoner,  and  combined  a  keen  logical  power  with 
a  fiery  zeal,  not  unmixed  with  earthly  passion.  As  a 
preacher  he  was  didactic  rather  than  expository.  His 
life,  however,  was  too  stormy  and  broken  to  admit  of 
his  sustaining  the  work  of  a  steady  instructor  or  preacher 
of  God's  word. 


'  Paniel's  "Gesch.,"  p.  234. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  8 1 

Ephraem  the  Syrian  was  one  of  the  greatest  though 
most  pecuHar  preachers  of  his  times.      His  rich  poetic 
nature    was   highly    cultivated    by   all    the      ^^^^^^^ 
rhetorical  methods  of  the  age,  and  his  more    ^j^^  Syrian, 
than  Oriental  imagination  was  brought  by 
monastic  discipline  into  a  state  of  the  keenest  sharpness, 
so  that  he   had   an   almost    prophetic    penetration    into 
spiritual  things,  and   the  power  of  bodying  them  forth 
with   vividness,  which   won   for   him   the  names  of   the 
"  Syrian  prophet,"  "  harp  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

We  will  now  dwell  a  little  longer  on  three  or  four  other 
preachers,  more  profitable  for  our  consideration  in  a  homi- 
letical  view.     Basil,  Bishop  and  Archbishop         ^^^.j 
of  Csesarea,  called  the  Great,  was  born  be-     ^^e  Great, 
tween  329  and  331,  and  died  in  379,  hardly 
fifty  years  old.    He  was  of  illustrious  parentage.    Gregory 
of  Nyssa  and  Peter,  Bishop  of  Sebaste,  were  his  brothers. 
He  was  also  an  intimate  friend  of  Gregory  Nazianzen, 
with  whom  he  studied   in  Ca,'sarea  in  Cappadocia.     He 
early  became  distinguished  for  learning  and  piety.     He 
studied    philosophy    and    rhetoric    at    Antioch  with  the 
heathen    teacher    Libanius,    and    finished    his    classical 
education    at    Athens.      "In    the  Greek  Church    it  was 
the  practice,   as  we   may  see   in  the  examples  of   Basil 
and  of  Gregory  Nazianzen,  for  such  young  men  as  were 
destined,  by  the    wish    of    their  families,  to  consecrate 
themselves  to  the   service  of   the    Church,    to  visit  the 
schools  of  general  education,  then  flourishing  at  Athens, 
Alexandria,     Constantinople,    Casarea    in    Cappadocia, 
and  Caesarea  in  Palestine.     Next  they  passed  some  time 
in  pursuing  the  study  of  ancient  literature,  either  with 
particular  reference    to    their    own   improvement    or    as 
rhetorical  teachers  in  their  native  towns,  until,  by  the 
course  of  their   own  meditations  or  by  some  impression 


82  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

from  without,  a  new  direction  of  more  decided  Chris- 
tian seriousness  was  given  to  their  hfe.  In  this  case 
it  now  became  their  settled  plan  to  consecrate  their 
entire  Hfe  to  the  service  of  the  faith  and  of  the  Church  ; 
whether  it  was  that  they  entered  immediately  into 
some  one  of  the  subordinate  grades  of  the  spiritual 
order,  or  that  they  preferred,  in  the  first  place,  in  silent 
retirement,  by  sober  collection  of  thought,  by  the  study 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  of  the  older  church  fathers, 
either  in  solitude  or  in  some  society  of  monks,  to  pre- 
pare themselves  for  the  spiritual  ofifice.  That  previous 
discipline  in  general  literature  had,  in  one  respect,  a 
beneficial  influence,  inasmuch  as  it  gave  a  scientific 
direction  to  their  minds  in  theology,  and  thus  fitted  them 
also  for  more  eminent  usefulness  as  church-teachers  ; 
as  becomes  evident  when  we  compare  the  bishops  thus 
educated  with  others.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
habits  of  style  thus  contracted,  the  vanity  and  fondness 
for  display  which  were  nourished  in  these  rhetorical 
schools,  had  on  many  an  influence  unfavorable  to  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  gospel,  as  may  be  seen,  for  example,  after  a 
manner  not  to  be  mistaken,  in  the  case  of  Gregory  of 
Nazianzus. "  ' 

In  a  journey  through  the  East  Basil  became  dis- 
gusted with  the  Christless  lives  of  the  monks,  and  he 
himself  was  led  to  found  a  Coenobite  order  of  monks. 
At  the  death  of  Eusebius,  in  370,  he  was  chosen  Bishop 
of  Caesarea.  He  labored  for  the  orthodox  faith  with 
the  zeal  of  an  Athanasius.  His  character  was  stead- 
fast and  strong,  as  is  seen  in  his  intrepid  resistance  of  the 
persecution  of  Valens  ;  and  he  was  also  earnest  in 
Christian  discipline  and  morality.     He  had  at  the  same 


*  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  v.  ii.  p.  150. 


HI  STORY  OF  PREACHING.  83 

time  great  moderation,  and  by  his  mingled  firmness  and 
tact  successfully  resisted  the  persecution  of  Valens  and 
the  Arians.      He  was  a  hard  worker  in  a  hard  field. 

As  a  preacher  he  had  received  every  aid  from  the  high- 
est culture  of  the  time,  and  was,  above  all,  inspired  by 

an  uncommon  zeal  for  the  truth,  which  he 

His  culture, 
derived  from  his  mother.  His  contempora- 
ries speak  of  his  eloquence  in  unmeasured  terms  of  praise, 
and  the  homilies  he  left  behind  partially  bear  this  out. 
His  nine  homilies  on  the  "  Six  Days  of  Creation"  {Hex- 
(Emeroji)  arc  the  most  renowned.  There  are  also  thirteen 
discourses  on  the  Psalms,  twenty-four  sermons  on  moral 
subjects,  and  four  martyr  eulogies.      The    homilies    are 

practical,    animated,    and    searching.        He 

,.    ,  1  J  •  Style, 

studied  human  nature,  and  was  a  sagacious 

master  of  the  human  heart.  He  almost  always  preached 
from  a  text,  either  one  independently  chosen  or  one  that 
formed  the  scriptural  lesson  that  was  read  in  the  public 
service,  which  last  was  Origen's  method,  and  that  of 
nearly  all  the  preachers  of  those  centuries.  In  regard  to 
this  interesting  point  of  reading  the  Bible  in  the  churches, 
Neander  remarks  :  "  As  to  those  kept  from  studying  the 
Scriptures  themselves  (chiefly  by  poverty,  which  pre- 
vented the  purchase  of  MSS.),  the  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  church  was  to  serve  as  a  remedy  for  the 
want  ;  for  on  those  occasions  not  single  passages  merely, 
but  entire  sections  and  whole  books  of  the  Bible  were 
read  in  connection.  Hence  many  who  could  not  even 
read  were  able,  by  a  constant  attendance  upon  church, 
and  by  carefully  listening  to  the  portions  read  each  year, 
to  treasure  up  in  their  memories  a  familiar  knowledge  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures."  ' 


'  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  v.  ii.  p.  282. 


84  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Neander  also  says  :  "  Chrysostom  frequently,  both  in 
private  conversation  and  his  public  discourses,  exhort- 
ed his  hearers  not  to  rest  satisfied  with  that  which  they 
heard  read  from  the  Scriptures  within  church,  but  to  read 
them  also  with  their  families  at  home  ;  for  what  food 
was  for  the  body,  such  the  Holy  Scriptures  were  for  the 
soul — the  source  whence  it  derived  substantial  strength. 
To  induce  his  hearers  to  study  the  Scriptures,  he  was  often 
accustomed,  when  there  was  yet  no  set  lesson  of  the 
sacred  word  prescribed  for  every  Sunday,  to  give  out 
for  some  time  beforehand  the  text  which  he  designed  to 
make  a  subject  of  discourse  on  some  particular  occasion, 
and  to  exhort  them,  in  order  that  they  might  be  the  bet- 
ter prepared  for  his  remarks,  in  the  mean  time  to  reflect 
upon  it  themselves."  ' 

Basil    spoke    also  on    definite    themes,   among    which 

sermons  are  those  upon  Anger  and  Drunkenness.     The 

last  are  powerful  temperance  sermons  for  any  time.     The 

length  of  those  homilies  is  moderate.      He  evidently  was 

an  extempore  preacher,  as  is  proved  by  many 

internal    evidences,     although    the    general 

extempore  ...  <=>  o 

preacher       style    of   his    discourses  shows    considerable 

method    and   careful  finish.      But  he  often 

breaks  his  train  of  thought  as  a  new  impulse  comes  upon 

him.      He  says  in   one  place  that  he  did  not  finish  the 

sermon  the  day  before,  and  will  begin  where  he  left  off. 

He  is  not  so  spiritual  and  lofty  in  style  as  Ephraem  the 

Syrian,  but  more  solid  and  practical.     He  speaks  like  a 

thoroughly  educated,  observing,  and  thoughtful  man,  on 

human  life,   its  dangers,  temptations,  sorrows,   sins,  and 

spiritual   redemption.       His  style    is  excellent,   without 

affectation,  simple,  clear,  and  in  good  taste.      He  had  a 


'  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  v.  ii.  p.  282. 


HISTORY   OF   PREACHING.  85 

quick  intuition,  and   spoke  with  directness  to  the  con- 
science.    Basil,  with  the  two  Grcgories,  present  us  per- 
haps the  first  instances  of  polished  and  thoroughly  trained 
classical  orators  in  the  pulpit.     They  have 
the  merits  and  faults  of  such.     They  are  too         Basil 

ornamental   and    elaborate,  Basil,  however, 

Gregories, 
the  least  so  of  the  three.     They  all  give  the      classical 

impression  that,  though  good  and  earnest  orators, 
men,  they  sought  to  be  orators,  which  am- 
bition the  former  preachers,  even  such  men  as  Origen 
and  Hippolytus,  did  not  seem  to  have,  and  which  the 
greater  preachers  who  came  after  them,  Chrysostom  and 
Augustine,  did  not  apparently  have,  or  to  such  a  marked 
extent.  Basil  was  the  most  solid  sermonizer  of  the 
three  ;  but  even  in  his  discourses  the  glitter  of  false 
ornament  and  sentimentality  are  seen.  In  the  sermons 
of  Basil  there  is  to  be  found  much  of  the  science  of  his 
day,  especially  in  the  sermons  upon  Creation.  They  are 
in  fact  scientific  treatises  on  "  Nature"  and  "  Provi- 
dence," comprehending  essentially  many  of  the  ques- 
tions now  discussed  in  regard  to  the  relation  of  science 
and  religion,  and  are  composed  in  a  grave  and  stately 
style.  His  ethical  discourses,  however,  are  pungent  and 
faithful,  and,  supported  as  they  were  by  a  life  of  stern 
piety,  they  had  powerful  influence  in  their  day.  ' 

Gregory  Nazianzen,  was  commonly  called  "  the  Theo- 
logian"— 0    '^^okoyoi,  because  %Eo\oyux,  in  the    stricter 

sense,  was  the  term  applied  to  the  doctrine 

Gregory 
of   Christ's    divinity   as  contradistinguished    M,2ianzen 

from  OLHOvofxia,  the  doctrine  of  his  incarna- 
tion."    In  fact,  with  this  father  and  with  others  of  his 


'  Paniel's  "Gesch.,"  p.  464  ;  see  also  Moule's  "  Chr.  Or.,"  p.  118. 
'^  Meander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  v.  ii.  p.  415. 


86  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

day,  dogmatic  truth  is  carefully  distinguished  from  the 
province  of  morals.  They  were  strictly  theologians. 
This  highly-praised  champion  of  the  Nicene  confession, 
the  intimate  friend  of  Basil  the  renowned  preacher, 
was  born  about  the  year  330,  in  an  obscure  town  of  Cap- 
padocia,  though  of  wealthy  and  influential  parentage,  his 
father  being  a  bishop.  He  studied  first  in  Caesarea  with 
His  his  friend  Basil,  under  the  rhetorician  Thes- 

philosophical  picius.       His     philosophical     tendency,    his 
tendency,     j^^g   q{   Plato,  his   admiration    for    Origen, 
and  above  all  his  intense  reverence  for  Athanasius,  led 
him  to  Alexandria.     After  remaining  there  for  awhile  he 
travelled  to  Athens,  where  he  completed    his  classical 
studies,  and  seemed,  while  in  Athens,  to  have  no  higher 
ambition  than  to  be  considered  an  accomplished  rhetori- 
cian and  sophist.     Afterward  he  pursued  exegetical  and 
theological  studies  more  diligently,  and  was  made  bishop 
of  the  small  city  of  Sosima  by  Basil,  who   had  been  pre- 
viously elevated  to  the  see  of  Caesarea,     This  call  to  so 
insignificant  a  place  caused  him  great  discontent.    Though 
a    good    man    and    a    great    man,  he    had    weak    points. 
While   gifted   with   extraordinary   oratorical   powers,   his 
style    as    a    preacher    was    built     upon    the 
elaborate  and  false  rhetorical  system  of  the 
Greek  sophists.     Five  theological  discourses,  in  which  he 
defended  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  which    exhibit 
considerable  dialectical  acuteness,  gained  for  him  the  title 
(to  which  reference  has  been  made)  of  Theologian  ;  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  Gregory's  preaching  contributed 
largely  to  the  victory  of  the  orthodox  faith  over  Arian- 
ism,  while  his  method  of  viewing  doctrine  had  a   marked 
influence  upon  the  creed   of  the  whole  Catholic  Church. 
One  of  his  noblest  pulpit  efforts  was  his  "  Farewell   Ser- 
mon," preached  in  the  Church  of  St.  Sophia,  which  re- 


HISTORY   OF  PREACIIIXG.  87 

suited  in  the  triumph  of  the  orthodox  faith  in  Constanti- 
nople. His  oratory,  though  more  brilliant,  had  not  the 
solidity  and  grasp  upon  the  conscience  that  Basil's  preach- 
ing had.  It  was  philosophical  and  dialectical,  and  these 
qualities  were  strongly  pronounced,  and  did  not  entirely 
harmonize  with  the  higher  qualities  of  preaching.  He 
was  also,  as  has  been  said,  greatly  inclined  to  ornament. 
He  was  captivated  by  the  style  of  the  Greek 

orators,   and,    unfortunately,     of    Isbcrates,      °  °^^       ^ 
111  1  n      •  1        1        1      <-    1        florid  Greek 

and  the  later  and  more  florid  school  of  the       „    ^^ 

orators. 

Greek  panegyrists.  His  sermons,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  have  no  definite  text,  and  have  long  oratorical 
exordiums.  They  abound  in  repetitions,  exclamations, 
interrogations,  antitheses,  and  artificially  constructed 
sentences.  But  among  these  flowery  sacred  orations  there 
was  much  that  was  practical,  vigorous,  truly  eloquent,  and 
even  at  times  profound.  His  sermon  on  "  Love  to  the 
Poor,"  is  one  of  his  best  and  simplest  homilies.  He  in- 
dulged often  in  unwarrantable  sarcasm,  and  indeed  his 
spirit  had  much  of  mundane  bitterness  and  unsatisfied 
ambition  ;  but  mingled  with  these  were  loftier  and  nobler 
qualities.  He  had  rare  intelligence  in  doctrinal  truth — 
the  fine  theologic  sense  {JFlicologiscJic  Gcisf).  Neander 
says  :  "It  is  also  the  merit  of  Gregory  that  he  did 
not,  like  other  church-teachers  of  this  period,  who  had 
been  drawn  into  the  field  of  controversy,  forget,  in  his 
zeal  for  those  views  of  doctrine  which  he  found  to  be  cor- 
rect, that  the  essence  of  Christianity  does  not  consist  in 
speculative  notions,  but  in  the  life  ;  that  he  did  not  suffer 
himself  to  be  misled  by  an  exclusive  zeal  for  orthodoxy 
of  conceptions  to  neglect  practical  Christianity.  Much 
rather  did  he  make  it  a  matter  of  special  concern  to  com- 
bat that  exclusively  prevailing  tendency  to  speculation 
in  religion   which   leads   to  tl:c  injury  of  a  living,  active 


88  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Christianity — a  tendency  which  was  so  very  agreeable  to 
the  mass  of  worldly  men,  because  it  made  it  easy  for 
them  to  put  on  the  appearance  of  zeal  for  piety  and 
orthodoxy,  and  to  deceive  the  judgment  of  others,  and  in 
part  also  their  own  conscience,  while  they  spared  them- 
selves from  the  contest  with  sin  in  their  own  hearts  and 
in  the  world  without  them.  He  often  declared  strongly 
against  the  delusive  notion  that  all  manner  of  frivolity 
might  be  united  with  zeal  for  sound  doctrine,  and  often 
presented  before  his  hearers,  with  pointed  earnestness,  the 
truth  that  without  a  holy  sense  of  divine  things  men  could 
have  no  understanding  of  them  ;  that  sacred  matters 
must  be  treated  in  a  sacred  manner.  He  often  preached 
against  the  perverse  manner  of  those  who  looked  upon 
discussions  upon  divine  things  as  any  other  conversation 
(^ooffTtep  ra  imtina  nai  ^tarpa,  ovroo  nal  rex  S-eia  Trdi^sir) 
on  topics  of  ordinary  discourse,  and  often  declared  that 
the  full  and  perfect  knowledge  of  divine  things  was  not 
the  end  of  the  present  earthly  life,  but  that  its  end  was 
"  by  becoming  holy,  to  become  capable  of  the  full  intui- 
tion of  the  life  eternal."  ' 

These  noble  thoughts  and  apprehensions  were,  however, 
mingled  with  much  of  the  vanity  of  learning  and  the  love 
of  oratorical  display.  His  panegyrical  sermons,  or  rather 
orations,  are  full  of  the  most  unqualified  and  extravagant 
adulation,  especially  the  oration  upon  Athanasius.  Thus 
he  says  :  "  In  praising  Athanasius  I  praise  virtue  itself. 
He  is  the  whole  of  virtue  incarnate,  for  he  combined  in 
himself  all  possible  virtues."  While  he  often  shone  as  a 
midday  sun  in  the  brilliancy  of  his  eloquence,  his  preach- 
ing was  never  without  spots  and  faults.  His  language 
often  degenerated  into  the  emptiest  declamation.'' 


'  Neander's  "  Eccl.  Hist.,"  v.  ii.  p.  415. 
'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  493. 


HISTORY   OF  PKEACIIING.  89 

Gregory    of  Nyssa,  the    younger  brother  of  Basil    of 

Caesarea,  was  born  between  330  and  340,  and  died  about 

369.      He  was  made  Bishop  of  Nyssa  by  his 

brother  Basil.      In  his  youth  he  showed  fire     ^'■^e°''yof 

Nyssa. 
as  a  theological  athlete,  as  a  champion  of 

the  orthodox  faith,  but  his  disposition  was  naturally 
mild.  Under  the  Arian  Valens  he  was  driven  from  his 
bishopric,  but  returned  under  Jovian.  He  was  greatly 
honored  as  a  ready  preacher,  drawing  often  large  multi- 
tudes to  hear  him.  He  was  also  highly  cultivated  in 
the  learning  of  the  time,  and,  like  Gregory 

Nazianzen,  was  built  too  much  upon  Greek         ^  °"*^ 

culture, 
ideas  of  rhetoric  and  philosophy.  He  car- 
ried his  Greek  training  into  his  homiletical  studies.  He 
was  in  fact  a  teacher  of  rhetoric  for  a  time,  as  were  many 
of  the  most  distinguished  Christian  fathers.  Although 
inclined  to  speculative  thinking,  he  spoke  with  direct- 
ness and   power  on  the  theme  of  Christian 

morals    and    Christian    life.      Here   he   was  ^^^^ 

tical 
calm,   simple,    orderly,  and   clear.      He   had      preacher 

great  influence  in  the  ecclesiastical  councils 
of  the  time  of  Theodosius.  As  an  interpreter  of  the 
Scriptures,  he  considered  with  Origen  the  allegorical  in- 
terpretation to  be  not  only  right  but  essential,  and  car- 
ried it  to  a  fine-spun  extreme  ;  yet  he  held  firmly  to  the 
principle  that  "  one  must  go  to  the  Scriptures  for  every- 
thing that  is  really  profitable."  His  sermons  upon 
"  Solomon's  Song,"  "  The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes,"  "  The 
Psalms,"  "The  Lord's  Prayer,"  "The  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,"  "  The  Paschal  Feast,"  "  The  Woman  taken  in 
Adultery,"  and  the  funeral  orations  upon  the  Princess 
Paulina,  Ephraem  the  Syrian,  and  his  own  brother  Basil, 
are  amons:  his  most  renowned  discourses.' 


'  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  520. 


90  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Not  to  dwell  upon  many  illustrious  preachers  whom  it 

would    be   profitable   to    notice,    such   as   Amphilochius, 

Amphilo-      Bishop  of  Iconium;    Epiphanius,  Bishop    of 

chius— Epi-    Salamis  ;  Theodorus,  Bishop  of  Mopsuestia, 

phanius—     we  will  finish  this  account  of  the  preachers 

orus.    ^f  ^j^g  early  patristic  period  by  a  notice  of 

two  of  the  greatest  of  them — Chrysostom  and  Augustine. 

John,   surnamed    Chrysostom  the   Golden-mouthed — a 

name    applied  to  him  some  time  after  his  death,  and,  as 

it    is    supposed,  by   the    sixth  CEcumenical 
Chrysostom.    ^  .,       ^ 

Council  m  080 — was  born  at  Antioch,  as  most 

authorities  state,  in  354,  although  Neander  and  Milman 
say  in  347,  and  was  baptized  by  Bishop  Meletius.  He 
grew  up  a  serious,  lovable  youth,  under  the  care  of  his 
widowed  mother  Anthusa,  and,  as  Neander  remarks, 
passing  through  none  of  those  wild,  dark  struggles  with 
temptation  which  left  an  ineffaceable  impression  on  the 
soul  of  Augustine  and  gave  a  gloomy  coloring  to  his  the- 
ology. He  lived  during  his  early  manhood  near  Antioch, 
and  led  an  ascetic  life,  in  which  period  he  is  said  to  have 
learned  the  Bible  by  heart — probably  an  exaggeration, 
but  founded  on  his  intense  study  of  the  Scriptures.  He 
was  appointed  deacon,  and  commenced  preaching.  He 
was  ordained  priest  by  Flavian,  Meletius's  successor.  In 
the  outbreak  at  Antioch  in  which  the  imperial  statues 
were  thrown  down,  Chrysostom  preached  with  great 
boldness  and  effect.  His  pulpit  eloquence  caused  him  to 
be  transferred  to  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Constantinople 
in  397.  He  restricted  the  episcopal  expenditure  in 
which  his  predecessors  had  indulged,  and  by  his  bene- 
factions acquired  the  name  of  "John  the  Almoner." 
He  deposed  thirteen  bishops  of  Lydia  and  Syria  for 
abuse  of  of^ce,  and  went  to  Antioch  to  reform  the 
church  there.     During  his  absence  the  faction  opposed 


HISTORY  OF  rREACIIIXG.  9 1 

to  him  gained  ground.  He  refused  to  submit  to  the 
"  Council  of  the  Oak"  at  Chalcedon,  and  was  exiled  to 
Nicssa  in  403.  An  insurrection  forced  his  recall  two  days 
afterward.  He  continued  to  preach  with  increasing  plain- 
ness till,  through  the  influence  of  the  Empress  Eudoxia, 
he  was  banished  to  Cucusus  in  Mount  Taurus,  and  after- 
ward, for  greater  security,  to  Pityus  on  the  Euxine,  On 
the  road  to  that  place,  about  nine  miles  from  Comana, 
in  Pontus,  he  died,  through  weariness  and  ill-treatment, 
September  14th,  407.  In  his  wanderings  and  residence 
among  the  savage  mountaineers  of  the  Taurus  he  dis- 
covered the  zeal  of  the  true  missionary,  endeavoring  to 
convert  the  Persians  and  the  Goths  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact.  In  his  celebrated  letters  to  Olympias  from 
his  place  of  banishment  occurs  the  sentence,  "  None  can 
hurt  the  man  who  \\\\\  not  hurt  himself."  He  died  ex- 
claiming, "  Glor)'  be  to  God  in  all  things  !  Amen  !"  He 
is  said  to  have  been,  like  the  apostle  Paul,  small  of 
stature,  with  a  large,  bald  head,  hollow  cheeks,  and  deep- 
sunken  eyes.  The  best  life  of  him  is  that  by  Neander, 
one  volume  only  of  which  has  been  translated  into  English. 
Though  one  of  the  greatest  of  commentators  and  theo- 
logians, he  was  eminently  and  distinctively  a  preacher. 
That  was  his  enthusiasm  and  his  life.  He  Number 
was  as  much  like  the  apostle  Paul  in  this  and  range 
respect  as  one  man  of  a  different  age  and  of  his 
culture  could  resemble  another.  His  homi-  homilies, 
lies  that  have  been  preserved  are  numerous  (said  to  be 
over  600),  though  many  extant  are  of  doubtful  authen- 
ticity. They  are  in  many  respects  more  valuable  than 
the  sermons  of  any  of  the  fathers,  Augustine  not  except- 
ed. All  patristical  literature,  as  we  have  before  re- 
marked, with  the  exception  of  the  works  of  Chrysostom 
and    Augustine,    might    be    destroyed,    and,    we    might 


92  HOMILETICS    FRO  PER. 

almost  say,  all  would  be  saved.  It  is  quite  difficult  to 
determine  the  exact  date  of  Chrysostom's  sermons.  The 
number,  variety,  and  range  of  these  discourses  may  be 
seen  by  mentioning  the  topics  of  some  of  them.  Twelve 
homilies  are  upon  the  Incomprehensible  Nature  of  God  ; 
eight  against  the  Jews  and  heathen,  to  prove  that  "  Christ 
is  God  ;"  seven  upon  Lazarus  ;  twenty-one  upon  Idol 
Statues,  addressed  to  the  people  of  Antioch  ;  nine  upon 
Repentance  ;  seven  in  eulogy  of  the  apostle  Paul  ;  and 
twenty-five  upon  the  saints  and  martyrs  ;  thirty-four 
principally  upon  certain  passages  in  the  New  Testament 
(most  of  these  homilies  on  the  New  Testament  have 
been  translated  and  published  in  the  "  Library  of  the 
Fathers")  ;  sixty-seven  upon  Genesis  ;  sixty  upon  the 
Psalms  ;  six  upon  Isaiah  ;  ninety-one  upon  Matthew,  of 
which  Thomas  Aquinas  said  "  that  he  would  not  give 
them  in  exchange  for  the  whole  city  of  Paris  ;"  eighty- 
seven  upon  John  ;  twenty-five  upon  the  Acts  ;  thirty- 
two  upon  Romans  ;  forty-four  upon  the  First  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  ;  thirty  upon  the  Second  ;  twenty-four 
upon  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  ;  fifteen  upon  Philip- 
pians  ;  twelve  upon  Colossians  ;  eleven  upon  the  First 
and  five  upon  the  Second  Book  of  Thessalonians  ; 
eighteen  upon  the  First,  and  ten  upon  the  Second  Epistle 
to  Timothy  ;  six  upon  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  and  three 
upon  that  to  Philemon  ;  thirty-four  upon  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  ;  '  a  great  number  upon  special  texts  and 
occasions,  the  most  interesting  of  which,  historically,  are 
those  that  belong  to  the  time  of  the  first  and  second 
exiles.'^     His  most  eloquent  sermons,  or  those  esteemed 


'  A  beautiful  edition  of  the  Homilies  of  the  Pauline  Epistles  in  Greek 
(but  without  the  Latin  version),  has  been  published  in  connection  with 
the  Oxford  Library  of  the  Fathers. 

'^  Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  609. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACITIXG.  93 

SO,  are  upon  Lazarus,  upon  Images,  or  "  The  Statues," 
upon  Repentance,  upon  the  History  of  Saul  and  David, 
upon  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  upon  the  Parable  of  the 
Debtor,  upon  the  Forgiveness  of  Enemies,  upon  Almsgiv- 
ing-, and  upon  Future  Blessedness.  It  may  be  seen  that 
most  of  these  discourses  were  cxegetical  and  Mostly 
expository,  being  running  commentaries  up-  exegetical 
on  the  Scriptures  ;  and,  in  fact,  Chrysostom  and 

aimed  to  explain  the  entire  word  of  God  to  ^^P°^'  """y- 
the  people,  following  it  book  by  book,  text  by  text.  It  is 
said  that  he  actually  did  this  in  the  course  of  his  ministry, 
although  the  greater  part  of  his  exegetical  homilies  are 
now  lost.  We  would  call  attention  to  this  fact,  that  he 
was,  above  all,  a  biblical  preacher,  and  in  him  we  would 
find  one  of  the  noblest  illustrations  of  this  method  of 
preaching.  Neander  says:  "The  tendency  of  the  An- 
tiochan  school  is  seen  in  its  more  moderate  form,  and 
deeply  pervaded  by  the  Christianity  of  the  heart,  in  the 
case  of  two  individuals,  both  of  whom  present  models  of 
biblical  interpretation  for  the  period  in  which  they  lived, 
while  one  of  them  furnished  the  best  pattern  of  a  fruitful 
homiletical  application  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  ;  these 
were  Theodoret  and  Chrysostom.  The  example  of  the 
latter  shows  particularly  the  great  advantage  of  this 
exegetical  tendency,  when  accompanied  by  a  deep  and 
hearty  feeling,  and  a  life  enriched  by  inward  Christian 
experience,  to  any  one  who  would  cultivate  a  talent  for 
homiletical  exposition,  and  indeed  for  the  whole  office  of 
the  preacher."  ' 

Chrysostom  early  adopted  the  intelligent  Christian 
mode  of  interpretation  pursued  in  the  school  of  Antioch  ; 
being,  in  opposition  to  the  allegorical  method  of  Origen 


'  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  v.  ii.  p.  353. 


94  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

and  the  Alexandrian  school  and  its  bold  rationalizing 
spirit,  an  investigation  of  the  simple  exegesis  of  words  as 
they  stand  in  the  Scriptures,  an  examination  of  the  his- 
toric circumstances  of  the  original  writers  and  speakers, 
and  a  more  careful  distinguishing  of  the  divine  element 
from  the  human.  Whatever  of  philosophy  was  intro- 
duced was  Aristotelean.' 

Neandersays  again:  "  Through  a  rich  inward  experience 
he  lived  into  the  understanding  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ; 
and  a  prudent  method  of  interpretation,  on  logical  and 
grammatical  principles,  kept  him  in  the  right  track  in 
deriving  the  spirit  from  the  letter  of  the  sacred  volume. 
His  profound  and  simple,  yet  fruitful,  homiletical  method 
of  treating  the  Scriptures  shows  to  what  extent  he  was 
indebted  to  both,  and  how,  in  his  case,  both  co-operated 
together."  " 

Chrysostom,  as  has  been  said,  was  eminently  an  exe- 
getical  preacher,  making,  as  did  Origen  and  all  the  great 
preachers  of  his  time,  the  interpretation  of  the  word — 
the  severe  and  yet  prayerful  exposition  of  the  Scriptures 
— the  basis  of  all  his  argument  and  exhortation,  thus  ele- 
vating the  gospel  above  philosophy,  above  theology,  and 
having  the  evangelic  spirit  running  through  his  preaching 
— the  spirit  that  comes  from  Christ  through  his  word. 
At  the  same  time,  though  so  markedly  a  biblical  preacher, 
Chrysostom  was  not  a  bibliolater.  He  recognized  the 
human  element  in  errors  and  contradictions,  and  did  not 
attempt  to  explain  these  in  a  forced  way.  He  did  not 
make  salvation  depend  on  the  letter  of  Scripture,  and  he 
thought  that  it  would  be  better  to  have  no  Bible  at  all  if 
the  grace  of  God  were  written  upon  the  heart  in  all  the 
fulness  of  an  inward  spiritual  revelation. 

'  See  Hase's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"    p.  177. 

*  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  v.  ii.  p.  693. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  95 

One  might  spend  years  and  even  a  lifetime  in  studying 
these  expository  discourses,  which  contain  every  quality 
of  style  and  eloquence. 

As  to  his  native  qualities  as  an  orator,  Chrysostom  was 

gifted  with  splendid  talents,  and  with  an  ardent  vitality, 

a  bold,   incisive   intellect,  a  pungent  wit,  a  j^jg 

graphic   power  of   the    imagination,   a   fiery        native 

temper,  which,  though  controlled,   is,  after     oratorical 

all,  a  source  of  power  with  the  people,  and         ^* 

a  profound  original  genius.      He  had,  too,  the  training  of 

the  most  distinguished  rhetorician  of  his  day,  Libanius 

of  Antioch,  who  was  also  the  teacher  of  Basil 

His  culture, 
and    Gregory  Nazianzen.      "  By    the    study 

of  the  ancients  he  secured  to  himself  the  advantages  of  a 
harmonious  mental  and  rhetorical  culture,  which  in  his  case 
was  ennobled  by  the  divine  principle  of  life  drawn  from  the 
gospel.  A  heart  full  of  the  love  which  flows  from  faith 
gave  to  his  native  eloquence,  cultivated  by  the  study  of 
the  ancients,  its  animating  charm."  '  As  far  as  he  could 
imitate  any  one,  he  built  himself  as  a  preacher  upon  the 
apostle  Paul  ;  and  he  had  the  same  ministerial  zeal,  the 
same  love  of  souls,  burning  in  him.  He  said  :  "  It  is  the 
firm  resolve  of  my  soul,  as  long  as  I  breathe,  and  as  long 
as  it  pleaseth  God  to  continue  me  in  this  present  life,  to 
perform  this  service,  whether  I  am  listened  to  or  not,  to 
do  that  which  the  Lord  hath  commanded  me."  "  He 
complemented  the  sober  clearness  of  the  Antiochan  exe- 
gesis and  the  rhetorical  arts  of  Libanius  with  the  depth 
of  his  warm  Christian  heart,  and  he  carried  out  in 
his  own  life,  as  far  as  mortal  man  can  do  it,  the  ideal  of 
the  priesthood  which,  in  youthful  enthusiasm,  he  once 
described."  ^    The  moral  element  of  Christianity  entered 

'  Neander,  v.  ii.  p.  693. 

^  Hase's  '"  Ch.  Hist.,"  p.  121. 


g6  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

also  largely  into  his  preaching,  and  he  sought,  above  all, 

to  impress  the  practical  truths   of  religion,  and  to  gain 

influence   over  men   for  their  spiritual  wel- 

The  fare.       He    preached     a    vital    Christianity, 

'"^''^^         not    a    formal    orthodoxy.      His   whole    life 

element  ,         .    .  .     i       ,  ^     ^  •      ^ 

.    . .  and    mmistry  mdeed  were  a  protest  agamst 

preaching,  unbelief.  He  contended,  with  a  boldness 
and  vigor  unsurpassed,  against  the  gigantic 
corruptions  of  the  waning  Roman  empire.  He  preached 
on  works  as  well  as  on  faith,  dwelling  constantly  upon 
the  Christian  life,  pouring  out  the  treasures  of  his  heart 
upon  the  loveliness  of  the  image  of  Christ  in  the  be- 
liever's character,  and  striving  to  build  up  this  inward 
Christlike  life  in  the  hearts  of  his  hearers.  "  In  him  we 
find  a  most  complete  mutual  interpenetration  of  theo- 
retical and  practical  theology,  as  well  as  of  the  dogmatical 
and  ethical  elements,  exhibited  mainly  in  the  fusion  of 
the  exegetical  and  homilctical.  Hence  his  exegesis  was 
guarded  against  barren  philology  and  dogma,  and  his 
pulpit  discourse  was  free  from  doctrinal  abstraction  and 
empty  rhetoric.  The  introduction  of  the  knowledge  of 
Christianity  from  the  sources  into  the  practical  life  of  the 
people  left  him  little  time  for  the  development  of  special 
dogmas,'"     Yet  he  was  not  wanting  in  the 

®  .       dogmatic  element.    He  discoursed  much  on 
dogmatic 
element       ^^^  nature    and    being  of    God,  on    special 

providence,  on  sin,  on  the  Church  as  God's 
spiritual  temple,  on  the  resurrection,  and  on  future  pun- 
ishments ;  and,  as  a  general  rule,  with  remarkable  liber- 
ality of  sentiment  for  his  age.  On  the  subject  of  ever- 
lasting punishments,  his  lofty  moral  code,  and  the  exces- 


'  Niedner's  "  Lehrbuch  der  Christlichen  Kirchen  Geschichte,"  p.  303. 
Berlin,  1861. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACIIIXG.  97 

sively  corrupt  state  of  the  times  and  of  the  Church,  led 
him  to  a  more  marked  sternness  and  positiveness  of  view 
than  even  that  of  Augustine,  and  certainly  of  Origen.  He 
was,  on  this  side  of  his  preaching,  overpowering  in  his  ear- 
nestness. "  It  was  the  conscience  of  man,  not  his  opinions, 
that  he  addressed  ;"  but  the  technicalities  of  theology 
he  eschewed,  and  gave  only  the  rich  fruit  of  noble  doc- 
trine. He  had  deep  insight  into  the  human  heart,  and 
understood  men  of  all  classes  and  characters.  He  was  a 
fearless  and  terrible  rebuker  of  sin  in  high  places,  and 
when  it  was  a  perilous  thing  to  attack  vice  clothed  with 
imperial  arbitrary  power,  he  shunned  not  to  declare  the 
whole  counsel  of  God,  speaking  often  with  great  severity 
of  personal  and  popular  sins,  and  of  God's  righteous  judg- 
ments upon  them.  There  was  no  mealy-mouthed  popu- 
larity in  his  preaching.  With  cheerful  courage  he  held 
up  the  light  of  a  pure  faith  in  the  midst  of  the  darkness 
of  an  impure  age.  Although  more  ornate  in  style  than 
would  suit  occidental  taste,  yet  from  contemporary  testi- 
mony, and  from  the  testimony  of  the  sermons 

^ '  ■'  His  style, 

that  we  have,  his  preaching,  which  made  the 

dome  of  St.  Sophia  ring  with  its  rhythmical  periods, 
was  characterized  by  an  eloquence  as  vigorous,  direct, 
and  vehement  as,  but  far  more  copious  than,  that  of 
Demosthenes,  so  rich  was  it  in  the  play  of  the  imagina- 
tion, and  at  times  so  tender,  moving,  and  pathetic.  He 
had  the  feeling  of  the  true  Christian  preacher  of  the  Paul- 
ine stamp,  without  which  feeling  no  one  can  be  a  great  and 
apostolic  preacher.  His  discourses,  like  those  of  Augus- 
tine, rise  sometimes  into  high  devotional  flights,  into  ' '  that 
ampler  ether  and  diviner  air  "  where  the  incomprehensi- 
ble nature  of  God  occupies  all  his  thoughts,  and  the 
human  audience  is  for  a  time  lost  sight  of  ;  but,  as  a 
general   rule,  the  practical,  the  pastoial,  the    missionary 


98  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

element  prevails  in  them — that  of  the  shepherd  of  souls, 
of  the  leader  and  guardian  of  the  Church  of  God.  His 
preaching,  as  might  be  said  of  Luther's,  was  his  life — 
it  was  an  epitome  of  his  character,  of  his  soul-struggles, 
of  his  spiritual  history.  He  glories  in  the  work  of 
preaching  the  gospel  to  the  poor.  He  seems  to  revel  in 
the  richness  of  its  divine  scope  and  range.  He  varied  his 
style  of  preaching — now  using  homely  and  familiar  lan- 
guage ;  at  another  time  stirring,  splendid,  and  energetic 
language  ;  and  at  another  time  metaphysical  and  ab- 
struse ;  for,  he  said,  the  table  of  the  gospel  feast  should 
be  covered  with  various  dishes,  and  the  banquet  should 
be  like  the  divine  generosity  of  the  Giver.  One  might 
say  of  him  and  his  style  of  preaching  that,  while  he  em- 
ployed all  the  varied  sources  of  pov/er  to  be  derived  from 
human  training,  he  was,  above  all,  trained  in  the  school 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  was  made  a  wonderfully  skillful 
instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  divine  Master. 

While  he  elevated  the  gospel  above  philosophy,  hav- 
ing the  true  evangelic  spirit  running  like  a  clear  stream 

through  his  preaching,  still  there  is  philoso- 
His  philoso-  t>  1  fc.'  r 

phy,  and      P^y  in  his  preaching  ;  he  appeals  to  general 

recognition  of  principles,  and  wields  the  Vv-hole  truth  with 

doctrine  of    power  in  its  particular  applications.     While, 

free-will,  pej-i^^ps,  to  be  classed  with  the  school  of  An- 
tioch  in  his  careful  and  conscientious  interpretation,  he 
yet  had  much  of  the  free  spirit  of  the  Alexandrian  school 
of  theologians,  whose  works  he  deeply  studied.  He  be- 
longed to  the  polemic  and  apologetic  age  of  the  Church, 
and  Vv-as  thus  led,  in  his  life  of  mental  and  spiritual  strife,  in 
opposition  to  the  false  philosophies  of  the  age,  to  medi- 
tate upon  and  to  bring  out  the  profounder  harmonies  of 
truth  ;  but  he  was  such  a  loyal,  practical,  pointed  scrip- 
tural preacher,  of  the  true  apostolic  stamp,  that  he  awoke 


HISTORY  OF  PREACIIIXG.  99 

a  deadly  opposition  in  the  corrupt  circle  of  the  demoral- 
ized Greek  Church,  which  finally  destroyed  him.  The 
style  of  his  sermonizing,  undoubtedly,  was  oratorical  or 
rhetorical,  but  his  preaching  was  rhetoric  in  its  best 
sense,  being  the  persuasive  communication  of  truth.  As 
has  been  more  than  once  remarked,  he  followed  out  with 
bold  earnestness  the  problem  of  the  freedom  of  the  will 
and  its  moral  self-determination,  which  is  the  foundation 
or  condition  of  virtue.  "  He  was  so  zealous  for  morality 
that  he  must  have  considered  it  a  point  of  special  impor- 
tance to  deprive  men  of  every  ground  of  excuse  for  the 
neglect  of  moral  efforts.  His  practical  sphere  of  labor  in 
the  cities  of  Antioch  and  Constantinople  gave  a  still 
greater  impulse  to  this  tendency.  For  in  these  large 
capitals  he  met  with  many  who  sought  to  attribute  their 
want  of  Christian  activity  to  the  defects  of  human  nature, 
and  the  power  of  Satan  or  of  fate."  '  But  it  must  be 
said  that  he  urged  quite  as  strongly  on  the  other  side  the 
existence  and  power  of  depravity  in  opposition  to  a  false 
moral  and  intellectual  pride.  But  there  is  wrought  into 
his  sermons  a  vast  amount  of  practical  teaching  upon 
virtue  and  moral  subjects,  some  of  which  was  derived 
from  his  study  of  the  Stoical  philosophy,  of  which  he 
was  fond,  but  chiefly  from  the  word,  example,  and  spirit 
of  Christ. 

His  sermons  at  Antioch  were  more  elaborate  than 
those  preached  at  Constantinople.  He  composed  his 
sermons    with    care,    preparing    himself  by 

thoroucrh  study,    as  well  as    by  meditation     ^^IPo^i  i  n 
^  -^  -^  .  and  form  of 

and    prayer.       As    an    cxegete    he    did    not      sermons. 

possess  a  good  knowledge  of  Hebrew,  and 

he  drew  from  the  faulty  Greek  translations.     From  his 


'  Neander's  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  v.  ii.  p.  658. 


lOO  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

habit  of  expository  preaching,  all  his  discourses  do  not 
have  an  elaborate  method  or  plan,  and  they  are  often 
desultory  and  diffuse  ;  but  they  are  pervaded  by  an 
-t,  earnest  aim,  by  the  desire  to  build  up  the  Church  of 
Christ,  to  reform  its  corruptions,  to  vindicate  the  gospel 
against  heathen  philosophy,  and  to  pluck  souls  from  the 
depths  of  sin  and  unbelief  in  which  they  were  sunk. 
Sometimes  he  preaches  on  a  definite  subject  or  proposi- 
tion, as  we  shall  notice  in  a  moment,  dwelling  upon  it 
pertinaciously,  and  with  something  of  the  strict  order  of 
a  classical  discourse  ;  but  as  a  general  rule  he  is  more 
free,  and  speaks  the  thought  to  v/hich  the  Scriptures  or 
the  occasion  gives  rise.  He  was  an  extemporaneous 
preacher  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term,  having  his  facul- 
ties in  command,  and  being  able  to  speak  solidly  and 
thoroughly  upon  the  subject  presented  at  the  moment. 
His  sermons,  like  most  of  those  previously  to  his  time, 
were  rather  simply  \6yoi  (addresses,  spoken  words,  upon 
the  scriptural  lesson)  than  ojxikiai,  or  set  discourses. 
Some  sixty-two  of  his  sermons  are,  however,  regularly 
constructed  discourses  upon  isolated  texts  of  Scripture. 

He  was  probably  a  preacher  of  short  sermons,  for  he 
says  of  himself,  that  the  art  of  limiting  himself  to  a 
small  compass  in  his  sermons,  and  of  exhausting  a  sub- 
ject, was  one  of  his  principal  endowments.  His  plan 
seems  to  have  been,  although  he  introduced  a  great  deal 
of  extraneous  matter  with  frequent  divergences  into  differ- 
ent themes,  to  preach  briefly,  pointedly,  and  frequently 
on  the  same  subject  till  he  had  made  an  impression,  and 
driven  that  particular  lesson  firmly  into  the  minds  of  his 
hearers.  He  says  :  "  For  this  seems  to  me  the  best  mode 
of  instruction,  to  insist  on  a  particular  subject  till  we  see 
our  counsel  taking  effect.  For  he  who  discourses  to-day 
on  almsgiving,  to-morrow  on   prayer,  the   next  day  on 


HISTORY  OF   PREACHING.  loi 

kindness,  and  the  following  day  on  humility,  will  really 
be  able  to  set  his  hearers  right  in  no  one  of  these  things, 
passing  so  rapidly  from  this  subject  to  that,  and  from 
that  to  another  ;  but  he  who  would  really  reform  his 
hearers  in  any  particular  should  notecase  his  admonitions 
and  exhortations  respecting  it,  nor  pass  to  another  sub- 
ject till  he  discover  his  former  admonitions  well  rooted 
in  them.' 

He  was,  in  the  best  'sense  of  the  term,  a  popular 
preacher,  gaining  this  distinction  by  his  plainness, 
clearness,  directness,  and,  more  than  all,  by 

his  abundant,   lively,  often  homely,  method     ^  popular 
r    -11  •  TT-       -11  •  ,  preacher, 

ot   illustration.      Jrlis    illustrations    may  be 

studied  at  this  day  for  their  freshness,  vivacity,  and 
illuminating  quality.  He  knew  how  to  come  down  to 
the  level  of  the  popular  mind.  The  people  were  often 
completely  carried  away  by  his  eloquence,  and  acted 
like  drunken  persons  ;  they  pressed  up  to  the  pulpit 
where  he  spoke,  so  as  not  to  lose  a  single  w^ord  ;  they 
said,  when  he  was  about  to  be  banished,  "  Better  that 
the  sun  should  cease  to  shine  than  that  our  Chrysos- 
tom's  mouth  should  be  stopped  ;"  even  the  cold  Gibbon 
praises  his  golden  eloquence,  and  another  has  said, 
"  his  tongue  flowed  like  the  stream  of  the  Nile." 

On  the  whole,  to  conclude  this  sketch,  we  would 
characterize  this  great  preacher  as  one  in  all  respects  the 
best  model  for  our  imitation — one  to  be  the  most  care- 
fully studied,  and  as  far  as  practicable  followed — since 
the  days  of  the  inspired  preachers  ;  for  he  was  built 
morally  and  spiritually,  by  nature,  culture,  and  grace, 
upon  an  apostolic  and  divine  plan.  While  a  man  of  vast 
mind,    he    was,   according  to    Pascal's   classification    of 


'  "  Bib.  Sacra,"  v.  iv.  p.  625. 


I02  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

preachers,  a  preacher  who  belonged  to  the  order  of  love 
rather  than  to  the  order  of  intellect.  Eloquent  beyond 
his  age,  and  almost  every  age,  the  apostolic  earnest- 
ness of  his  character  as  a  preacher  makes  even  the  genius 
of  the  man  seem  secondary  ;  and  compared  with  Gregory 
Nazianzen  and  most  of  the  great  preachers  of  his  period, 
in  whoiii  the  philosophic  and  rhetorical  elements  pre- 
dominated, he  was  Pauline  in  his  bare,  towering,  sub- 
lime spirituality.  He,  like  Paul,  could  boast  of  his  gifts, 
but  he  counted  all  as  nothing,  less  than  nothing,  that 
he  might  win  Christ,  and  win  the  world  to  Christ. 

In  addition  to  his  homiletical  and  exegetical  works, 
Chrysostom  wrote  a  most  valuable  treatise  on  the  priest- 
hood, TiEpX  i£po(3VV7]Z,  which  contains  valuable  hints  on 
the  preaching  and  pastoral  office.  "  He  requires  of  the 
priest,  or  minister,  to  be  better  than  the  monk  and 
better  than  other  men,  as  he  has  greater  difficulties  to 
contend  with,  and  a  greater  fight  to  wage.  He  sets  up 
as  the  highest  object  of  the  preacher  the  great  principle 
stated  by  Paul,  that  in  all  his  discourses  he  should  seek 
to  please  God  alone,  not  men.  He  must  not,  indeed, 
despise  the  approving  demonstrations  of  men  ;  but  as 
little  must  he  count  them,  nor  trouble  himself  when  his 
hearers  withhold  them.  Imperturbable  comfort  in  his 
labors  he  finds  only  in  the  consciousness  of  having  his 
discourse  framed  and  wrought  out  to  the  approval  of 
God."' 

Without  spending  time  upon  the  great  preachers  of 
the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  of  the  Western  Church,  such 
as  Hilarius,  Bishop  of  Pictavium,  "  the  Athanasius  of  the 


'  Schaff,  V.  ii.  p.  253  :  see  also  Neander's  "  Life  of  Chrysostom  ;" 
Paniel's  "  Gesch.,"  p.  590  j^^.  ;  and  Moule's  "Oratory,"  pp.  i^o,  141, 
145.  146,  152,  156,  157. 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  103 

West  ;"  Ambrose,   Bishop  of  Milan,  who  was  <jreat  in 

character,  but  who  as  an   orator  was  "  more 

successful     by     simplifying     imitations     of       *"us,  Am-- 

Greek  models  than  by  orisrinal  eloquence  ;"  ^       i^^'^ 
JO  1  '  Jerome. 

and  Jerome,  who,  though  more  of  a  waiter 
and  theologian  than  preacher,  yet  exerted  a  vast  influ- 
ence on  the  preaching  and  interpretation  of  his  day,  in- 
troducing Greek  learning  and  Greek  methods  into  the 
Western  Church,  we  will  conclude  our  account  of  this 
period  by  saying  a  few  words  upon  Augustine  as  a 
preacher. 

Aurelius  Augustine,  Bishop  of  Hippo,  was  born  at 
Tagaste,  in  Numidia,  November  13th,  354,  Like  Chry- 
sostom,  he  possessed  the  inestimable  ad- 
vantage of  having  a  thoroughly  Christian 
mother.  Of  Monica  Neander  says  :  "  Whatever  treas- 
ures of  virtue  and  worth  a  life  of  faith,  even  of  a  soul 
not  trained  by  scientific  culture,  can  bestow,  was  set 
before  him  in  the  example  of  his  pious  mother."  Of  a 
passionate  nature,  and  full  of  the  consciousness  of  power, 
he  plunged  not  only  into  the  brilliant  though  false  intel- 
lectual life,  but  also  the  vicious  excesses  of  the  luxurious 
city  of  Carthage.  The  reading  of  Cicero's  Hortensius, 
revealing  the  dignity  of  philosophical  pursuits,  is  said 
to  have  been  the  first  good  influence  upon  his  mind, 
turning  him  from  an  openly  immoral  career.  To  quote 
Neander,  "  The  conflict  now  began  in  his  soul  which 
lasted  through  eleven  years  of  his  life.  As  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  Holy  Scriptures  possessed  no  attraction  to 
his  taste — a  taste  formed  by  rhetorical  studies  and  the 
artificial  discipline  of  the  declamatory  schools — especial- 
ly as  his  mind  was  now  in  the  same  tone  and  direction 


>  Hase,  "  Hist,  of  Chr.   Ch.,"  p.  118. 


104  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

with  that  of  the  Emperor  Julian,  when  the  latter  was 
conducted  to  the  Platonic  theosophy  ;  as,  moreover,  he 
found  so  many  things  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Church 
which,  from  want  of  inward  experience,  could  not  be 
otherwise  than  unintelligible  to  him,  while  he  attempted 
to  grasp,  by  the  understanding  from  without,  what  could 
be  understood  only  by  the  inner  life,  from  the  feeling  of 
inward  want,  and  one's  own  inward  experience  ;  so, 
under  these  circumstances,  the  delusive  pretensions  of 
the  Manichaean  sect,  which,  instead  of  a  blind  belief 
on  authority,  held  out  the  promise  of  clear  knowledge 
and  a  satisfactory  solution  of  all  questions  relating 
to  things  human  and  divine,  presented  the  stronger 
attractions  to  his  inexperienced  youth."  While  then 
an  instructor  in  rhetoric  at  Carthage,  he  threw  him- 
self with  his  accustomed  impetuosity  into  the  Manichaean 
heresy.  He  wrote  about  that  time  a  book  on  aesthetics 
{De  Apto  et  Puk/iro),  which  has  been  lost.  After  wast- 
ing some  ten  years  in  the  barren  Manichaean  philoso- 
phy he  went  to  Rome,  and  then  to  Milan.  Through 
the  preaching  of  Ambrose,  Bishop  of  Milan,  and, 
above  all,  the  prayers  and  tears  of  his  mother,  he  be- 
came a  Christian  in  386.  He  returned  to  Africa, 
was  ordained  presbyter,  then  bishop-coadjutor,  then 
Bishop  of  Hippo  {Hippo- Rcgiiis),  on  the  Numidian  coast 
of  North  Africa,  in  396.  He  carried  on  his  great  contest 
with  Pelagius,  with  which  the  world  rang  ;  but  his  suc- 
ceeding history,  as  a  church  father  and  theologian,  is  a 
familiar  one,  and  we  merely  add  the  date  of  his  death — 
August  28th,  430,  at  the  age  of  76. 

We  will  not  speak  of  him  as  a  theologian,  though  com- 
ing, as  Milman  says,  just  at  the  right  time,  and  repre- 
senting the  thought  of  the  age,  as  going  through 
Manichaeism  and  Platonism  into  pure    Christianity  ;  but 


///STO/CV  OF  rREACIIIXG.  105 

it  is  only  as  a  preacher  that  we  now  have  to  do  with 

him.     Great  as  he  was  as  a  theologian,  whose  theology 

Luther  moulded  into  Protestantism,  and  Jansenius  into 

Roman  Catholicism,  yet  next  after  Origen  and  Chrysos- 

tom    he    had    the   deepest    influence    upon    homiletical 

studies  and  preaching  of  almost  any  man. 

He  himself  produced  a   great   number   of   homiletical 

works,  both  as  a  writer  and  sermonizer.    A  large  number 

of  his  homilies,  probably  by  means  of  short- 

,         ,  ^  ,  J  ,  Influence 

hand     reporters,    have    come    down    to  us 

on 

fresh,  sharp-cut,  full  of  life  and  vigor,  as   if     preaching, 
preached  yesterday. 

As  the  moral  element  was  prominent  in  Chrysostom's 
preaching,  so    in  Augustine's  the    doctrinal  or  dogmatic 
element  predominated,  and  from  his  exam- 
ple it  has  entered  and  ruled  in  the  Christian        og^^a.  ic 

element 
pulpit   to    this    day.       His    mind   was  of  a  predominant. 

speculative  and  organizing,  rather  than  prac- 
tical order  ;  but  notwithstanding  this  tendency  to  phi- 
losophy, he  did,  like  Chrysostom,  preach  to  the  popular 
heart,  and  was  above  oratorical  vanity,  or  the  ambition 
to  be  considered  eloquent,  though  his  sermons  still  show 
the  effect  of  his  rhetorical  and  philosophical  training. 
His  own  experience  gave  him  a  profound  knowledge  of 
sin  and  of  the  corrupt  heart,  and  even  his  doctrinal  dis- 
cussions were  followed  by  a  close  application  to  his 
hearers*  consciences.  His  main  aim  in  preaching  seemed 
to  be  to  do  good,  and  to  draw  men,  by  the  agency  of 
the  preached  word,  to  God. 

Augustine    was    not,   however,    a    faultless    preacher. 
Many  of   his    sermons,    especially  his  doc- 

11-  11  Not 

trmai    discourses,    are    jejune    and    barren  ;  . 

and    one    may    sometimes   search    in    them 

in  vain  for  the   barest  scriptural    or  even   moral   truth. 


Io6  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

There  is  much  also  that  is  fanciful  and  excessively 
puerile  :  plays  upon  words,  startling  antitheses,  odd  con- 
ceits. There  is  often  not  the  least  systematic  arrange- 
ment, and  one  wonders  that  a  man  of  such  extraordinary 
genius  could  have  spoken  such  useless  things.  But  these 
faults  belonged  to  the  age  ;  and  he  was  too  earnest  a 
preacher,  too  strongly  bent  on  winning  men  to  Christ  and 
doing  God's  work,  to  err  greatly  in  this  direction  or  any 
other. 

Augustine  spent  most  of  his  life  in  studying  and  teach- 
ing the  art  of  oratory,  and  when  he  became  a  Christian 
he  made  a  special  application  of  his  rhetor- 

s  awn  er    j^^^  studies  to  preaching.    He  wrote  a  treatise 
on 
Homiletics     ^^  sacred  rhetoric,  which  is  contained  in  the 

fourth  book  of  his  great  work  entitled  "  De 

Doctrina  Christiana." 

In  briefly  and   freely  analyzing  this  treatise,  its  chief 

principles  might  be  set  forth  under  some  twelve  distinct 

heads  : 

(i.)  The  knowledge   of  rhetoric  is  a  genuine  science, 

highly  useful  to  be  pursued  by  the  Christian  preacher, 

and  its  principles  should  be  acquired  by  him 

.,    .         when   young,    or   at   the   beginnings   of    his 
homiletical         .  &  fa 

precepts       mmisterial    life  ;    and    chiefly    through    the 

study  and  hearing  of  good  models. 
(2.)  As  the  preacher  is  a  champion  of  the  true  faith 
and  an  opponent  of  error,  he  should  use  his  first  efforts  to 
teach  good  and  to  unteach  evil  ;  he  may  for  this  purpose 
employ  every  legitimate  method  of  influencing  men,  and 
use  different  means  and  styles  of  persuasion — viz.,  con- 
versation, historical  illustration,  argument,  motives,  open 
rebuke,  animated  exhortation. 

(3.)  It  is  better  for  the  preacher  to   speak  with  true 
knowledge  {sapienter)  than  with    mere    art    {cloqiieiiter)  ; 


HISTORY  OF  rKEACIIIXG.  107 

and  a  man  speaks  with  more  or  less  of  true  knowledge  as 
he  makes  greater  or  less  advancement  in  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures.  This  Scriptural  knowledge  may  go  a  great 
way  as  a  substitute  for  artistic  eloquence  ;  but  a  union 
of  biblical  knowledge  and  artistic  eloquence  he  considered 
highly  desirable. 

(4.)  Plainness  or  perspicuity  is  the  first  great  merit  of 
the  preacher  ;  and  he  thought  that  the  obscure  parts  of 
even  inspired  Scripture  were  not  to  be  imitated  by  the 
human  teacher.  Clearness  rather  than  elaborateness 
should  be  aimed  after  ;  and  he  says,  in  so  many  words, 
that  the  best  preacher  is  he  who  provides  that  his  hearer 
hear  the  truth,  and  that  what  he  hears  he  understands. 
He  held  that  the  thought  is  to  be  preferred  above  the 
word,  and  that  the  true  is  better  than  the  artistic. 

(5.)  Everything  in  preaching  should  be  held  subservient 
to  bending  the  Jicarci'  to  action.  Didactic  preaching  should 
not  waste  itself  in  vain  learning  and  argumentation,  but 
should  aim  to  bring  to  light  what  is  hidden,  and  set  it 
vividly  before  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  hearers,  how- 
ever this  be  done  ;  for  what  is  the  use  of  a  golden  key,  if 
it  will  not  open,  and  what  advantage  has  it  to  the  wooden 
key  that  will  open  ? 

(6.)  Attractiveness  or  persuasiveness  in  preaching  must, 
however,  always  be  tempered, 

{a)  By  sound  doctrine  ; 
ib)  By  gravity. 
He  gives  examples  of  the  violation  of  the  first  rule  in  the 
false  prophets,  whose  seductive,  persuasive  eloquence  in 
falsehood  brought  dreadful  ruin  upon  Israel  ;  and  of  the 
second  rule  in  Cyprian,  where  even  so  great  a  father  erred 
in  speaking  foolishly,  and  lost  more  than  he  gained  by 
his  mistimed  liveliness. 

(7.)  It  is  by  the  Christian  feeling  of  his  sermons,  more 


Io8  IIOMILETICS   PROPER. 

than  by  any  endowments  of  intellect,  that  the  preacher 
must  hope  to  inform  the  understandings,  and  catch  the 
affections  and  bend  the  will  of  his  hearers.  If  thus 
earnest,  the  Holy  Spirit  will  come  to  his  assistance.  The 
Spirit  is  promised  (Matt.  lo  :  19)  to  those  who  for  Christ 
were  delivered  over  to  persecution,  and  he  will  not  with- 
hold his  aid  from  those  who  are  heartily  engaged  in  de- 
livering Christ  into  the  hands  of  learners.  But  nothing, 
he  thought,  was  more  unwise  in  itself,  or  more  alien  from 
the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  divine  economy,  than  to  sup- 
pose that  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  justify  us  in  relaxing  our 
own  efforts  of  preparation,  whether  intellectual  or 
spiritual. 

(8.)  As  to  style  in  preaching,  while  the  thought  should 
be  preferred  above  the  word,  precisely  as  the  mind  is 
preferred  above  the  body,  and  while  thus  bearing  in 
mind  the  prime  importance  of  his  subject-matter  itself, 
he  laid  down  the  following  distinctions  of  style  to  be 
observed  by  the  preacher  according  to  the  several  exigen- 
cies of  application.  Is  he  conveying  instruction  ?  he 
should  use  the  simple  and  low  style  {subinissa  dictid). 
Is  he  bestowing  praise  or  blame  ?  the  even  and  regulated 
style  {tcnipcrata  dictid).  Is  he  rousing  the  sluggish  or 
diseased  will  to  a  performance  of  duty?  the  lofty  and 
impressive  {^grandc  dicendi  genus). 

Examples  of  all  these  styles  are  extracted  from  the 
writings  of  St.  Paul.  The  low  and  quiet  {szibmissa 
dictid)  is  illustrated  from  Gal.  4:21  ff. ,  and  3  :  15  fT.,  in 
the  first  of  which  the  Judaizing  Galatians  are  met  by  an 
allegory  ;  and  in  the  second  the  redemption  of  the 
world  through  Christ  is  vindicated  against  the  exclusive 
claims  of  the  special  covenant. 

Several  passages  are  brought  forward  in  explanation  of 
the  even  and  regulated  mode  of  speech  {tcnipcrata  dictid), 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  109 

the  chief   of   them    being  Rom.    12:1;     12:6;   13:6; 
13  :  12. 

The  lofty  and  impressive  style  {grandc  diccndi  genus) 
is  nobly  represented  by  2  Cor.  6:2;  Rom.  8  :  28  ff.,  and 
the  chapter  is  brought  to  a  close  by  an  extract  from  Gal. 
4 :  10  ff.,  which  is  characterized  by  Augustine  as  the  one 
"  lofty"  passage  in  a  production  the  general  tone  of 
which  is  "  low  and  quiet,"  dismissed  by  the  "  even  and 
regular"  style  at  the  beginning  and  end. 

(9.)  "A  variety  in  style  should  be  employed,"  or,  he 
says,  one  style  being  made  to  relieve  another.  But, 
above  all,  care  must  be  taken  not  to  prolong  the  "  lofty 
and  impressive"  style  beyond  judicious  limits.  The  very 
strain  upon  the  mind  which  eloquence  involves,  and  upon 
which  its  effect  depends,  cannot  be  kept  up. 

The  legitimate  effect  of  the  impressive  style  is  not  to 
draw  down  men's  approbation,  but  to  move  their  feel- 
ings. It  is  the  tear  and  not  the  shout  that  forms  its 
proper  result.  Augustine  brings  forward  an  instance  of 
the  effect  of  his  own  words  in  quelling  a  tumult  in 
Mauritanian  Caesarea.  The  "  low"  is  best  in  all  cases  of 
instruction,  as  of  proof  distinguished  from  active  influ- 
ence. But,  at  best,  these  styles  are  only  imperfect  means 
to  an  end  ;  and  the  end,  or  right  persuasion,  is  all  in  all. 

(10.)  All  styles  of  address  are  mutually  interdependent. 
We  should  not  separate  them,  nor  think  that  one  should 
be  regarded  as  the  sole  instrument  of  mastering  the  un- 
derstanding, another  the  affections,  another  the  will. 

(11.)  More  important  than  anything  is  the  life  of  the 
preacher  ;  and  no  rules  of  art  will  ever  have  the  least 
chance  of  supplying  the  void  which  must  result  from  an 
unsoundness  in  that.  He  adds  in  another  place  that 
"  ministers  should  avoid  faults  of  conduct  more  than 
faults  of  oratory." 


no  IIOMILETICS   PROPER. 

(i2.)  In  conclusion,  let  not  prayer  be  forgotten.  Did 
Esther  pray  for  an  evpvSpiov  Xoyov,  when  pleading  for 
the  temporal  safety  of  her  people  ?  And  shall  we  neglect 
to  do  the  same  when  the  eternal  welfare  of  mankind  is  at 
stake  ? 

Though  profound  as  a  theologian,  and  brilliant  as  a 
rhetorician  and  dialectician,  Augustine  as  a  preacher  was 
uncommonly  simple  and  direct.  Niebuhr 
calls  him  eloquent,  but  it  was  the  eloquence 
of  simple,  unaffected  truth.  Although  so  highly  rhetor- 
ical in  his  other  works,  most  of  his  sermons  are  so  plain  in 
their  style  and  biblical  and  spiritual  in  their  themes,  that 
they  could  be  preached  with  effect  at  this  day  ;  they  have 
that  freshness  which  springs  from  the  central  light  and 
spirit  of  Christian  truth.  They  are,  however,  full  of  the 
expression  of  devotional  feeling  ;  and  the  intense  passion 
of  his  nature,  turned  after  his  conversion  into  devotional 
channels,  bursts  out  and  overflows  in  his  discourses,  which 
sometimes  rise  to  the  highest  pitch  of  eloquence.  There 
is  in  his  discourses  no  rigidly  logical  plan — for  he  followed 
the  rhetorical  rather  than  logical  order — his  reasoning  in 
this  respect  resembling  that  of  Paul  rather  than  that  of 
Aristotle  ;  but  there  is  evident  unity  of  aim,  even  if  not 
strictly  logical  unity.  While  always  drawn  from  some 
portion  of  the  word  of  God,  his  sermons  are  not  often 
built  upon  particular  texts,  and  yet  one  text  is  usually 
prominently  brought  forward  near  the  beginning  of  the 
homily,  and  this  appears  to  be  the  main  text  around 
which  other  passages  of  Scripture  are  grouped,  and  about 
which  the  sermon  itself  revolves. 

His  favorite  precept,  that  the  general  style  of  the 
preacher  should  be  a  low  and  plain  one  {s7ib}nissa  dictio), 
was  strikingly  exemplified  in  his  own  preaching. 

Although  his  sermons,  as  has  been  said,  rise  to  eloquent 


HISTORY  OF  PREACH IXG.  l" 

flio-hts,  gaining  for  him  the  name  of  "the  Christian 
Cicero,"  yet  he  was  really  too  earnest  to  indulge  in  much 
rhetorical  freedom.  He  had  at  times  a  kind  of  direct  im- 
passioned energy  that  was  full  of  power.' 

Augustine    preached    mostly    in    an    extemporaneous 
manner,    and   with   but  slight    immediate   preparation  , 
for  his  sermons  appear  to    have    been    al-     Extempo- 
ways  freely  delivered,  and  he  was  occasion-       raneous 
ally   directed  to  the  choice  of  a  subject  by      preacher, 
thoughts  that  sprang  up  during  the  course  of  sacred  wor- 
ship.     He  followed  the  ancient  method  of  commenting 
upon  the  lesson  of  Scripture  which  had  been  read  by  the 
praelector  in  the  public  service.     His  manner  of  preach- 
ing is  chiefly  expository,  going  upon  the  principle  of  ex- 
plaining from  the  pulpit  as  much  of  the  Bible  as  possible. 
He  deeply  pondered  the  word  of  God,  and  drew  his  in- 
spiration, his  thought,  his  style,  from  this  divine  fountain. 
As  an  exegete,  however,  his  discourses    do  not  always 
show  profound  learning  ;  for  though  well  versed  in  the 
Latin   language   and  literature,  he  has  always  had    the 
reputation  of  being  a  poor  Greek  scholar,  and  he  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  Hebrew.      "Apparently  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  using  translations  of  Plato  (Confess.  8,  2)  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  Greek  words  frequently  occur  in 
his  writings,  correctly  rendered   and  discriminated ;  and 
he  speaks,  in  one  of  his  epistles  to  Marcellinus,  of  refer- 
ring to  the  Greek  psalter,  and  finding,  in  reference  to  cer- 
tain difficulties,  that  it  agreed  with  the  Vulgate.    Clausen, 
who  has  particularly  investigated  this  point,  sums  up  the 
evidence  to   this  effect,  that   Augustine  was  "  fairly   in- 
structed in  Greek  grammar,  and  a  subtle  distinguisher  of 
words  ;"  but  that  beyond  this  his  knowledge  was  insuffi- 


>  See  Merivale's  "Conversion  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  p.  78. 


112  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

cient  for  a  thorough  comprehension  of  Greek  books,  and 
especially  for  those  in  the  Hellenistic  dialect.'  " 

The  introduction  of  his  sermon  iscommonly  simple  and 
artlessly  attractive.  He  often  goes  on  without  developing 
any  specific  proposition  or  theme,  and  then  as  suddenly 
comes  to  an  end,  closing  generally  with  the  doxology,  or 
with  a  short  prayer.  Indeed,  as  to  that,  the  early  preach- 
ers were  in  the  habit  of  introducing  short  prayers  in  all 
stages  of  their  sermons,  as  the  Spirit  moved  them. 

Augustine  was  an  inexhaustibly  fruitful  preacher.     "He  \ 
often  preached  five  times  a  day  in  succession,  sometimes 
Number       twice  a  day,  and  set  it  as  the  object  of  his 
of  preaching  that  all  might  live  with  him,  and 

sermons.  he  with  all,  in  Christ.  Whenever  he  went 
into  Africa  he  was  begged  to  preach  the  word  of  salva- 
tion."^ His  sermons  and  ecclesiastical  orations  that  still 
remain  to  us  number  some  five  hundred  and  ninety  ;  of 
these,  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  are  upon  passages  in 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  eighty  upon  church  fes- 
tivals, sixty-nine  upon  saints  and  martyrs.  They  are, 
indeed,  upon  all  subjects  fitted  for  pulpit  instruction,  and 
exhibit  immense  range  and  variety  of  topics. 

As   a   general  thing,  Augustine's   sermons    are    short, 

some  of  them  probably  not  more  than  a  quarter  of  an 

hour    in    length.       In    comparison    with    the    endlessly 

long     and    ornate    discourses    of    the    Greek    preachers, 

his    brevity    and    simplicity    are    worthy    of    imitation. 

Although  he    frequently   enlivened    his    discourses    with 

historical    illustrations,    yet    in    metaphors 

and    figures  of  speech  he  does  not  abound, 
illustrations.  °  ^ 

or,  when  they  do  occur,  they  are  not,  while 
sometimes  elegant  and  powerful,  as  a  general  rule,  par- 

'  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica." 

'  Schaff's  "  Ecc.  Hist.,"  v.  iii.  p.  194. 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  1 13 

ticularly  felicitous.  It  seems  as  if  his  earnestness  caused 
him  to  rise  above  rhetorical  style,  of  which  he  was  never- 
theless a  trained  master.  He  trusted  to  the  Spirit  of 
God,  and  to  the  inbreathing  of  his  heart-melting  elo- 
quence.' He  preached  to  the  many,  not  to  the  few.  He 
preached  in  an  animfited  and  pungent  manner,  with  an 
affectionate  ardor,  abounding  in  pointed  interrogation 
and  appeal.  He  emphasized  the  side  of  truth  in  which 
his  deepest  personal  experience  lay — viz.,  the  extreme 
corrup!:ion  of  the  human  heart,  and  the  absoluteness  of 
divine  grace.  No  one  could  be  unmoved  under  his  lively 
and  incisive  harangues.  He  stood  face  to  face  with  the 
soul,  and  had  a  tone  of  intense  reality.  The  African  fire 
of  his  native  temperament  pervaded  his  discourses,  only 
purified  and  attempered  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

We   would   close   this   sketch   of   the  preaching  of  the 
fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  and  in  fact  of  the  first  five  cen- 
turies, by  saying  that  although  the  preaching 
of   the   patristic   period   has   been   by   some       Patristic 

enthusiastic    students    overpraised,    and     its  P^"°    .f    ^   , 

of  homiletical 
eloquence    falsely    compared     to    the    best        study. 

periods  of  Greek  and  Roman  eloquence,  yet, 
with  all  its  faults,  it  is  a  rich  field  of  study.  It  affords  a 
still  fresh  region  of  homiletical  research  and  suggestion. 
Luther  called  Augustine  "  the  best  and  purest  of  the 
fathers,"  and  from  the  reading  of  his  sermons  and  writ- 
ings he  caught  the  true  spirit,  the  deep  meaning,  and  the 
renewing  life  of  the  word  of  God.  In  the  earlier  patristic 
preachers  there  was  much  that  still  lingered  of  the  sim- 
ple, artless  evangelic  spirit,  which  was  mixed  with  and 
corrupted  by  the  coming  in  of  Greek  philosophy,  while 
at  the  same  time  it  was  deepened  and  adapted  to  the 
intellectual  wants  of  men. 


'  See  Moule'a  "Oratory,"  pp.  177,  178  ;  Aug.  "  Confess.."  0.\.  ed.  p.  S?-). 


114  JTOMILETICS    PROPER. 

We  have  thus  traced  the  historic  beginnings  of  the 
preaching  office  from  the  time  of  the  apostles,  and  fol- 
lowed down  the  varied  and  changing  current  of  preach- 
ing through  the  first  five  centuries,  from  the  simple  col- 
loquial style  of  address  to  the  dawning  inception  of  art 
and  the  influence  of  Greek  philosophy ;  through  the 
theological  period,  strictly  so  called,  to  the  broader  de- 
velopment of  the  pulpit  discourse,  in  what  might  be  prop- 
erly called  "the  oratorical  period,"  uniting  the  expo- 
sitory with  the  didactic,  analysis  with  synthesis,  exe- 
getical  interpretation  of  the  Bible  with  the  rhetorical, 
methodized,  and  philosophic  habit  of  thought,  as  exem- 
plified especially  in  such  great  preachers  as  Chrysostom 
and  Augustine.  But  during  all  this  period,  with  all  its 
faults  and  corruptions,  we  have  discovered  the  grand 
truth  that  the  Scriptures  themselves  continued  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  true  and  only  basis  of  preaching,  and  that 
interpretation  lay  at  the  bottom  of  all  address  which 
aimed  at  bringing  the  kingdom  of  God  in  its  spiritual 
power  and  supernatural  claims  to  bear  upon  the  minds 
of  men. 

If  we  derived  but  this  one  lesson  from  the  study  of  the 
history  of  early  and  patristic  preaching,  it  would  be  an 
ample  reward. 

Sec.   8.    Preaciung  from  the  Sixth    Century  to    the  Ref- 
ormation. 

A  longer  time  has  been  spent  on  the  preceding  five 
centuries  of  Christian  preaching,  from  the  fact  that  in 
them  we  were  treating  of  the  beginnings  of  things,  of  the 
influence  of  the  apostolic  institutions,  and  were  tracing 
the  origin  and  early  development  of  the  office  of  preach- 
ing in  the  Christian  Church  ;  but  we  must  now  move  on 
more  rapidly. 


HISTORY  OF  r REACHING.  115 

During  the  sixth  century,  while  there  were  thoroughly- 
educated  and  skilful  orators  as  well  as  earnest  preachers, 
who  united  culture  with  Christian  faith  and  zeal,  yet 
more   and   more  the  preaching    tended   to 

rhetorical   skill  and   self-display.      The    re-  tendency 

/•    A    1            •                                                /■  1  •  ^°  rhetorical 

buke  of  Athanasius  to  the  preachers  of  his  .      ,           . 

'  display  and 

day  would   apply   still    more   to  those  who  luxurious  liv- 

came  after  them.      He  said  :  "  If  the  church     ing  in  the 

were  an  audience  for  the  hearing  of  orators,       clergy 

then  eloquent  words  would  be  in  place  :  but     .^, 

^  ^  Athanasius. 

since  it  was  a  place  of  contention  for  the 
highest  achievements  of  piety,  words  were  not  so 
much  needed  there  as  good  conduct."  The  clergy  of 
the  Roman  empire,  east  and  west,  grew  luxurious  in 
their  habits,  loved  fine  clothing  and  rich  living  ;  and  the 
bishops  especially,  who  had  by  this  time  monopolized 
the  preaching  office,  or  at  all  events  had  monopolized 
the  entire  control  of  it,  lost  their  zeal  for  preaching  ; 
and  yet,  in  spite  of  this,  and  notwithstanding  the  gross 
corruptions  and  superstitions  that  began  to  make  their 
appearance  in  the  Church,  there  still  continued  to  be 
in  the  Church  an  earnest  desire  to  interpret  the  word 
of  God  to  men  ;  and  this  was  undoubtedly  the  main  pur- 
pose of  all  the  great  preachers  of  the  age. 

But  when  we  come  down  as  late  as  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, we  find  that  preaching  was  beginning  to   sink  to 
those    depths    of    degradation,  which    con- 
tinued  to   grow   more  and   more  profound,     Downward 
even   to   the   time   preceding  the   Reforma-      tendency 

T-i        •  1  <■    1     •       •  r     i"    seventh 

tion.      Ihe    idea    of   bringing   the   word   of       century 

God    to    bear    directly  on    the    mind    and 
heart  of   the  people,  as  in  previous  ages,  was  more  and 
more  lost  sight  of,  though  it  was  not  as  yet  entirely  lost. 
In    the    middle  of  the  eighth  century,  at   the  Council  of 


n6  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Cloveshire,     for     example,     constituted     for    the    refor- 

Ai.i       i.    i.     mation   of   abuses    in  the   EngHsh    Church, 
Attempts  to  *^  ' 

revive  the     preachin<j  was  declared  by  the  bishops  to  be 
custom  of     a  duty  Avhenever   they  visited   the   different 
preaching,     churches  ;  this  implied   that  in  the  interval 
of  these  pastoral  visitations  the  people  had  no  public  re- 
ligious   instruction.       Afterward     Charlemagne,    in     his 
time,  exhorted  his  clergy  to  preach  on  cer- 
Charlemagne's ^^jj^    occasions;     and    Alcuin,    his    adviser, 
efforts. 

especially  strove  to  renew  this  duty,  which 

had  almost  fallen  into   complete   disuse  in  the  German 

and  Gallic  churches  ;  but  where  preaching  was  renewed, 

those  who  preached — the  bishops  themselves — were  rude, 

unlearned  men,  and  public  worship  had  become  a  round 

of  senseless  forms  and  ceremonials.     True  preaching  had 

lost  its  important  place  in  w^orship  ;  its  light  was  put  out 

in   the  temple.     Certain  "  postils"    {postillcs),   originally 

signifying   brief   comments   upon   a  text    of 
Postils. 

Scripture,  and  which  were  short  discourses 

or      commonplaces     that     were    manufactured    by    the 

bishops,  to  be  recited   by   the  preacher,   were    read.     A 

collection    of  these   homilies  was  first  made  by  Alcuin, 

and  a  fuller  one  by  two  of  his  pupils,  Rabanus  Maurus 

and  Haimo.      They  had   for  their  principal 

ernes   o     ^hejy,eg  ^\^q  authority  of  the  Roman  Church, 
preaching.  •' 

the  glory  of  the  Virgin,  the  flames  of  pur- 
gatory, and  similar  topics.  An  ancient  English  preacher 
of  the  better  sort,  Dan  Jon  Gaytrigg  by  name,  mentions 
the  "  six  things"  which  formed  the  theology  and  the 
subject-matter  of  preaching  of  his  day.  "  The  fourteen 
points  of  the  creed,  the  ten  commandments,  the  seven 
sacraments,  the  seven  works  of  mercy,  the  seven  virtues, 
the  seven  deadly  sins."  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Christian  truth  was  conveyed  in  such  preaching  ;  but  the 


HISTORY  OF  PREACIIIXG.  1 17 

monastic  system  corrupted  the  Christianity  of  the  Middle 
Ages  (or  those  ages  lying  between  the  period  of  the 
destruction  of  the  Roman  empire  and  the  Reformation), 
by  promulgating  the  idea  that  there  could  be  no  true 
religious  life  outside  of  the  monastery  walls — in  fact, 
as  Dean  Milman  said,  "  Manicha;ism  poisoned  the  life- 
blood  of  mediaeval  Christianity."  Some  of  the  names  of 
the  great  preachers  of  the  Middle  Ages,  com- 
mencing from  the  time  of  Venerable  Bede,  Names  of  great 

1      1         1     ir      r     1  1  1    preachers  of 

m   the  last  halt   of  the  seventh  century  and     ,j^    Middle 

first  half  of  the   eighth,  are   Bede  himself,         Ages, 
who  worthily  modelled  his  preaching  on  the 
admirable   homiletical    precepts   of    Pope    Gregory    the 
Great  ;   St.    Boniface     in    the  eighth  century  ;   Rabanus 
Maurus  in    the  ninth   century  ;    St.  Peter   Damiani  (re- 
former   of  the  papacy    in   his  day)  ;    Anselm  and    Peter 
Abelard  in  the   eleventh  century  ;  St.  Bernard  of  Clair- 
vaux,  Guaric,  Abbot  of  Igniac,  Peter,  Bishop  of  Chartres, 
and  Hugo  St.  Victor  in  the  twelfth  centur}/'  ;  St.  Anthony 
of  Padua,   St.  Francis  of  Assisi,   Albertus   Magnus  and 
Thomas  Aquinas  of  the   thirteenth   century  ;   Berthold, 
the  Franciscan,  in  the  fourteenth  century',  and  Thomas  a, 
Kempis  in  the  fifteenth.     Most  of  these  were  monks  of 
the    Franciscan    and  Dominican  preaching 
orders.     At   first   there  was  very   little    of    The    preach- 

regular  preaching  in  the  vernacular  ;  but  in     ^"^  orders— 
.-,.■,  ,  .1        r    HT  preaching    in 

the  nmth  century,  at  the  councils  of  May-   the  vernacular. 

ence  and  Langres,  some  earnest  efTort  seems 
to  have  been  made  to  renew  the  ofifice  of  regular  preach- 
ing in  the  Church  ;  and  it  was  also  decreed  that  the 
Christian  faith  should  be  taught  to  the  people,  and  the 
Scriptures  expounded  to  them  in  their  vernacular.  These, 
however,  were  but  transient  efforts,  gleams  athwart 
the  darkness,  that  did  not  influence  the  deep  prevailing 


II 8  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

want  of  religious  instruction  from  the  pulpit  ;  and  all 
that  related  to  public  worship  grew  more  and  more  sensu- 
ous and  puerile.  From  the  twelfth  to  the  fourteenth  cen- 
turies there  was  much  preaching  in  the   common  tongue 

by    itinerant    friars,    of    a    highly    fanatical 
Preaching    of    j^j^^^^      r^y^^^  ^^^j^  ^^.j^.^^  ^j^^  f^^^.^  ^^^  ^  _ 

itinerant  .  .  -  .,,,., 

f  iars  stitions  oi  the  people,  who  were  mdeed  chil- 

dren in  their  hands.  One  of  the  chief  aims 
of  this  preaching  was  to  induce  the  people  to  enter  upon 
the  Church's  pilgrimages  and  crusades.  Still  there  were 
noble  exceptions,  throughout  the  so-called 
Exceptions  of  j^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^  preachers,  powerful  both  in 
earnest  and  ..,.,., 

sDiritual        human  eloquence  and  true  spirituality,  like 

preachers.      Berthold     in   the   thirteenth  century,    John 

Wyclif,    and    that    remarkable    company   of 

preachers  of  the  fourteenth  century  who  were  called  the 

"  Friends  of  God,"  such  as  Erckhardt,  Nicholas  of  Basle, 

Tauler,  and  Henry  Suso. 

Master  Erckhardt, as  he  was  termed,  the  Dominican,  was 
a  bold  thinker,  and  with  a  pantheistic  tendency,  anticipat- 

Er  kh  rdt      '"^'  '^  ^^  ^^^^'  '^^  German  transcendental  phi- 
losophy; but  he  was  still  a  true  believer,  keep- 
ing in   company  with  Augustine,  and   holding  the    great 
facts  of  the  divine  personality  and  human  responsibility. 
Tauler        Tauler  was  a  profound  preacher,  of  the  mys- 
tical   type,  contending    against  externalism 
in   religion,  and   the  meritoriousness  of  good  works,  and 
he  was  one  of  the  originators  of  the  old  German  theology, 
so  fascinating  to  Luther  and  to  all  spiritually-minded  men. 
Luther  frequently  referred  to  him  and  his  sermons.      He 
said  (Epistol.  xxiii.  ad  Spalatin)  :  "5/  tc  dclcctat  puram 
solidiain   antiqiice  siuiilliniain    Thcologiam   Icgcrc   in    Ger- 
nianica  lingua  cffusani  scrnwncs  Joh.  Tauler i  PrcvdicatioricF 
profcssioncs  coinpararc   tibi  potcs.     Ncque  cniju  ego  vcl  in 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHIiXG.  Up 

Latina  vcl  in  nostra  lingua  TJicologiani  vidi  salubrioreni,  et 
cum  Evangclio  consonajitioron."  Tauler's  preaching  was 
without  art,  and  his  sermons  were  simple  developments, 
through  meditation,  of  the  word  of  God,  Hkc  pure  flow- 
ers springing  up,  under  the  sun  and  rain  of  heaven,  from 
their  hidden  roots.  They  dwell  chiefly  upon  Christ  and 
divine  love.  They  were  brief  "  postils"  in  plain,  com- 
prehensible speech,  showing  the  way  to  blessedness  and 
the  soul's  perfection  through  Christ.  They  are,  however, 
often  profound  in  their  spiritual  meaning.  The  main 
principle  of  these  old  preachers  was  that  "  No  work  or 
service  is  good  and  perfect  unless  it  is  the  simple,  unselfish 
outflow  of  a  divine  principle  of  love  and  life  in  the  heart  ; 
but  if  a  man  works  for  himself,  for  a  reward,  for  a  where- 
fore, he  is  a  hireling,  and  not  a  true  friend  or  servant  of 
God."  '  These  mystics  as  preachers  are  not  to  be  de- 
spised, since  they  represent,  like  the  apostle  John  him- 
self, a  faith  deeper  than  that  of  their  antagonists.  They 
have  seized  upon  a  living  principle,  true  in  all  ages, 
and  the  renewing  principle  of  the  Church,  that  pre- 
serves it  from  sinking  into  dead  forms  on  the  one  hand, 
and  dead  philosophy  on  the  other.  Still,  their  doctrine 
of  longing  for  union  with  God  and  of  annihilation  of 
self,  was,  to  say  the  least,  liable  to  run  into  errors. 

We  would  say  a  word  concerning  another  light  of 
the  Dark  Ages,  the  greatest  of  the  English  early 
reformers  and  preachers,  John  Wyclif.  John  Wyclif 
v.-as  born  in    1324    and  died   1384.     About 

1363  he  took    his   degree     at  Oxford    and       .„    ° 
°  Wyclif. 

began    his    lectures    on    divinity,  in    which 

his    first    anti-papal   opinions    were    put    forth.       These 


'  Dr.    Pfeiffer's  "  Deutsche  Mystiker  der  Vierzehnten   Yahrhundert." 
1845. 


120  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

lectures  made  Oxford  the  centre  of  theological  il- 
lumination, eclipsing  the  great  fame  of  the  University 
of  Paris  and  the  French  schools.  Wyclif  owed  some- 
thing of  his  progressive  tendency  to  the  English  Doctor 
Ockham,  but  far  surpassed  him  in  acuteness  and  bold- 
ness of  views.  Concerning  this  period,  a  recent  English 
historian  says  :  "  The  spare,  emaciated  frame  of  Wyclif, 
weakened  by  study  and  by  asceticism,  hardly  promised  a 
reformer  who  would  carry  on  the  stormy  work  of  Ock- 
ham ;  but  within  this  frail  form  lay  a  temper  quick  and 
restless,  an  immense  energy,  an  immovable  conviction, 
an  unconquerable  pride.  The  personal  charm  which  ever 
accompanies  real  greatness  had  only  deepened  the  influ- 
ence he  derived  from  the  spotless  purity  of  his  life.  As 
yet,  indeed,  even  Wyclif  himself  can  hardly  have  sus- 
pected the  immense  range  of  his  intellectual  power.  It 
was  only  the  struggle  that  lay  before  him  which  revealed 
in  the  dry  and  subtle  school-man  the  founder  of  our  later 
English  prose,  a  master  of  popular  invective,  of  irony, 
of  persuasion,  a  dexterous  politician,  an  audacious  par- 
tisan, the  organizer  of  a  religious  order,  the  unsparing 
assailant  of  abuses,  the  boldest  and  most  indefatigable  of 
controversialists,  the  first  reformer  who  dared,  when  de- 
serted and  alone,  to  question  and  deny  the  creed  of  the 
Christendom  around  him,  to  break  through  the  tradition 
of  the  past,  and  with  his  last  breath  to  assert  the  freedom 
of  religious  thought  against  the  dogmas  of  the  papacy."  ' 
As  a  lecturer  on  divinity,  Wyclif  showed  the  greatest 
daring  in  theological  speculation,  with,  however,  a  strong 
leaning  to  Augustine's  doctrine  of  predestination.  In 
1374  he  was  presented  to  the  parish  of  Lutterworth,  re- 


'  J.  R.  Green's  "  A  Short   History  of  the  English  People,"   Harper's 
ed.  p.  251. 


HISTORY  OF   PREACHING.  1 21 

maining  through  all  his  stormy  career  its  priest  and 
preacher  ;  laboring  with  great  zeal,  and  preaching  not 
only  on  Sundays  but  on  the  festival  days  ;  showing  him- 
self, in  another's  language,  "  a  most  exemplary  and 
unwearied  pastor."  Here  he  began  his  indomitable 
efforts  at  church  reform,  and  his  attacks  upon  the  papacy  : 
styling  the  pope  "  antichrist,"  "  the  proud,  worldly  priest 
of  Rome,"  "the  most  cursed  of  clippers  and  purse- 
kervers"  (cut-purses).  He  was  the  upholder  of  the  rights 
of  the  Church  of  England  against  papal  aggressions,  and 
grew  bolder  in  his  assaults  upon  the  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation.  He  was  soon  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  Convocation,  but  was  saved  from  condemnation 
through  the  influence  of  his  powerful  friend,  John  of 
Gaunt.  His  fundamental  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
having  reference  immediately  to  the  individual  conscience 
swept  away  the  whole  tissue  of  the  papal  system  of  a 
mediating  priesthood.  Pope  Gregory  VI.  issued  several 
bulls  having  direct  reference  to  him  and  his  opinions  ; 
on  which  he  was  summoned  before  the  bishops'  council 
at  Lambeth,  but  again,  through  a  happy  turn  of  circum- 
stances, escaped.  He  now  commenced  his  great  work  of 
translating  the  Scriptures,  and  giving  them  to  the  people 
in  their  vernacular,  and  also  of  defending  the  Scriptures 
by  constant  preaching  and  writing,  sagaciously  addressed 
to  the  common  mind  of  the  English  people.  Here  we 
see  him  as  the  founder  of  biblical  preaching  in  England, 
which  was  addressed  in  plain,  popular  language  to  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  the  common  people.  The  historian 
before  quoted  thus  remarks  of  this  popular  work  of 
Wyclif — and  with  this  quotation,  which  graphically  char- 
acterizes the  great  English  preacher  of  reform,  we  would 
end  the  sketch  :  "  But  Wyclif  no  longer  looked  for  sup- 
port to  the  learned  or  wealthier  classes  on  whom  he  had 


122  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

hitherto  relied.  He  appealed,  and  the  appeal  is  memora- 
ble as  the  first  of  such  a  kind  in  our  history,  to  England 
at  large.  With  an  amazing  industry  he  issued  tract  after 
tract  in  the  tongue  of  the  people  itself.  The  dry,  syllo- 
gistic Latin,  the  abstruse  and  involved  argument  which 
the  great  doctor  had  addressed  to  his  academic  hearers, 
were  suddenly  flung  aside,  and  by  a  transition  which 
marks  the  wonderful  genius  of  the  man,  the  school-man 
was  transformed  into  the  pamphleteer.  If  Chaucer  is 
the  father  of  our  later  English  poetry,  Wyclif  is  the 
father   of   our   later    English    prose.       The 

^     ,.  ,       rough,  clear,  homely  English  of  his  tracts, 
English  to    •  •  /  b  ' 

prose.  '^^^  speech  of  the  plowman  and  the  trades 
of  the  day,  though  colored  with  the  pictu- 
resque phraseology  of  the  Bible,  is  in  its  literary  use  as  dis- 
tinctly a  creation  of  his  own  as  the  style  in  which  he  em- 
bodied it — the  terse,  vehement  sentences,  the  stinging 
sarcasms,  the  hard  antitheses  which  roused  the  dullest 
mind  like  a  whip.  Once  fairly  freed  from  the  trammels 
of  unquestioning  belief,  Wyclif's  mind  worked  fast  in  its 
career  of  scepticism.  Pardons,  indulgences,  absolutions, 
pilgrimages  to  the  shrines  of  the  saints,  worship  of  their 
images,  worship  of  the  saints  themselves,  were  succes- 
sively denied.  A  formal  appeal  to  the  Bible  as  the  one 
ground  of  faith,  coupled  with  an  assertion  of  the  right  of 
every  instructed  man  to  examine  the  Bible  for  himself, 
threatened  the  very  groundwork  of  the  old  dogmatism 
with  ruin.  Nor  were  these  daring  denials  confined  to 
the  small  circle  of  the  scholars  who  still  clung  to  him  : 
with  the  practical  ability  which  is  so  marked  a  feature  of 
his  character,  Wyclif  had  organized,  some  few  years  be- 
fore, an  order  of  poor  preachers,  '  The  Simple  Priests,' 
whose  coarse  sermons  and  long  russet  dress  moved  the 
laughter  of  the  clergy,  but  who  now  formed  a  priceless 


IIISrORY   OF   PKEACIIIXG.  1 23 

organization  for  the  diffusion  of  their  master's  doctrines. 
How  rapid  their  progress  must  have  been  we  may  see 
from  the  panic-struck  exaggerations  of  their  opponents. 
A  few  years  later  every  second  man  you  met,  they  com- 
plain, was  a  Lollard  ;  the  followers  of  W'yclif  abounded 
everywhere,  and  in  all  classes,  among  the  baronage  in 
the  cities,  among  the  peasantry  of  the  country-side,  even 
in  the  monastic  cell  itself."  ' 

^Mention  was  made  of  the  exceptionally  noble  preach- 
ers of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  especially  those  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  of  whom  Wyclif  was  the  greatest.  Of  this 
same  class,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  John  Huss,  Gerson 
{Doctor  CJiristianissinius),  who  was  the   founder  of  Galli- 

canism,  and  Savonarola,  might  be  particular-    „ 

Savonarola. 
ly  noticed.     We  will  dwell  only  upon  the  last 

of    these,  because  as    a   preacher,  he    was  the    greatest. 

Jerome  Savonarola  was  more  truly  a  preacher  than  even^" 

Wyclif.       His    prophet's    throne   was    the    pulpit.      His 

preaching  not  only  moved  the   city  of  Florence,  but  all 

Italy  and  the    papal  church  ;    and   its  profound   effects 

were  seen  in  the  Reformation  of  the  next  century.      He 

was  the  Wesley  and  Whitefield  of  his  age,  combined  with 

a  higher  order  of  genius  than  cither.      He  took  complete 

possession  of  his  hearers — of  their  imagination,  feeling, 

and  will.      He  played  upon  every  string,  now  appealing 

to  the  heart,   and   now  assailing  with  tremendous  force 

the  conscience.      He  understood  the  power  of  this  great 

instrumentality  of  preaching,  ceaselessly  laboring  in  his 

pulpit  till  he  was  cut  off  by  a  violent  death.      He  was 

born  at  Ferrara  in  1452,  and  was  burned  at  the  stake  in 

Florence  in  1498,  his  life  thus  nearly  covering  the  last  half 

of  the  fifteenth  century.     The  history  of  his  life,  like  that 


'  Green's  "  Historj-  of  the  English  People,"  p.  206. 


124  ITOMILETICS    r ROPER. 

of  Luther's,  in  its  great  events  and  steps,  is  so  familiar  a 
one  that  we  need  not  give  it  circumstantially,  since  it  is 
especially  as  a  preacher  that  our  attention  is  now  directed 
to  him.  The  year  after  his  birth,  in  1453,  Constantinople 
was  taken  by  the  Turks,  so  that  he  felt  during  his  whole 
life,  and  especially  as  a  citizen  of  Florence,  the  influence 
of  the  dispersion  of  the  Greeks,  and  the  rise  of  the 
"  New  Learning"  during  the  early  part  of  that  marvel- 
lous period  of  the  Renaissance.  His  intellectual  and 
spiritual  life  was  greatly  influenced  by  this.  The  com- 
ing of  large  numbers  of  the  most  learned  Greek  scholars 
to  Italy,  and  their  reception  and  patronage  by  the  Medici 
family,  opened  the  treasures  of  ancient  literature,  and  gave 
birth  not  only  to  new  ideas  in  art  and  philosophy,  but 
also  in  political  science  and  religious  civilization.  The 
effete  political  and  religious  systems  of  the  Middle  Ages 
began  to  be  assailed  by  bold  thinkers,  and  among  these 
none  thundered  so  terribly  against  the  towers  of  bigotry 
and  tyranny  as  did  the  Dominican  monk-preacher  of  San 
Marco  at  Florence,  Jerome  Savonarola. 

No  complete  collated  edition  of  his  sermons  has  yet 
been  printed.  There  are  said  to  be  two  large  MS. 
volumes  of  his  sermons,  written  in  very  small  hand, 
that  have  never  been  published  ;  but  there  has  been  re- 
newed interest  of  late  in  the  history  and  works  of  this 
wonderful  man,  both  in  Germany  and  Italy.  Perhaps 
the  best  and  fairest  life  of  him  is  from  a  Roman  Catholic 
source,  that  of  Pasquale  Villari,  which  has  been  recently 
translated  into  English. 

Savonarola  is  another  eminent  instance  of  an  expositor)'- 

or  biblical  preacher,  and  of  the  superior  ad- 
Expository 
oreachine      vantages  of  such  a  style  of  preaching.    In  his 

period  of  training  for  the  pulpit  he  devoted 

himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  125 

His  Bible,  which  was  until  recently  exhibited  at  St. 
Mark's  Convent  in  Florence,  bears  every  mark  of  being 
well  thumbed,  and  is  filled  with  marginal  notes  written 
in  an  exceedingly  minute  hand.  One  author  says  of 
him  :  "  He  was  early  led  to  begin  a  series  of  expository 
sermons,  and  it  was  in  such  expositions  that  he  exhibited 
that  wonderful  power  in  the  pulpit  which  marked  his 
after  years.  At  Breccia,  in  i486,  he  gave  a  series  of  ex- 
pository sermons  on  the  book  of  Revelation.  Such  was 
the  effect  of  these  that  his  reputation  soon  began  to 
spread  far  and  wide.  Among  his  extant  works  are  to  be 
found  sermons  on  the  books  of  Exodus,  Ruth,  Esther, 
Job,  the  Psalms,  the  Song  of  Solomon,  Ezekiel,  Micah, 
Zechariah,  and  the  First  Epistle  of  John." 

There  was  another  cause  of  his  great  power  in  the  pul- 
pit- -his  voice  and  attractive  delivery.     When  he  made 

his  first   attempt  to   preach  in  Florence  it 

Voice  and 
was   a   decided    failure  —  a   great    audience      delivery 

dwindling  down  to  twenty-five.      His  voice 
was   harsh,    his   gestures    uncouth  ;    his    whole    manner 
showed  total  want  of  tact  and  adaptation  to  the  preach- 
ing office, 

A  recent  writer  says  of  him  : 

"  It  was  not  until  the  year  1485  that  he  rose  superior  to 
the  physical  disadvantages  which  had  marred  his  earlier 
efforts  in  the  pulpit.  We  have  no  record  of  the  various 
means  to  which  he  had  recourse,  in  order  to  overcome 
the  natural  defects  of  which  his  first  auditors  complained. 
But  he  was  one  who  would  be  unlikely  to  rest  contented 
until  he  had  discovered  the  cause  of  his  failure  ;  and  he 
had  so  learned  the  lesson  of  self-control  and  self-abnega- 
tion as  to  be  able  to  receive  with  meekness,  if  not  with 
thankfulness,  the  suggestions  of  those  who  could  point 
out   his   defects   and    show   him    how   to    remedy  them. 


1=6  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Humbert  de  Romanis,  the  general  of  the  Order  of  Do- 
minicans, many  years  before,  had  urged  those  in  whom 
there  was  a  talent  for  preaching — that  most  excellent 
gift — to  cultivate  it  assiduously.  No  doubt  his  work  was 
familiar  to  Savonarola,  and  its  precepts  were  obeyed. 
There  must  have  been  long  and  patient  training  of  his 
vocal  powers  ;  for  we  find  him  no  longer  speaking  with 
weak,  harsh  tones,  but  filling  the  vast,  crowded  area  of 
the  Duomo  at  Florence  with  his  clear,  loud,  ringing 
voice.  Nothing  but  well-directed,  honest,  and  long- 
continued  culture  in  all  that  pertained  to  the  art  of 
oratory  could  have  wrought  the  change  which  soon 
became  manifest  to  all." 

He  attacked  the  immorality  of  the  times  and  of  the 
papal  church  with  such  boldness  and  even  fierceness  that 
his  career  as  preacher  was  soon  cut  short  by  martyrdom. 
He,  as  well  as  Chrysostom  and  Luther,  are  to  be  espe- 
cially remembered  as  illustrating  the  aggressive  power  of 
those  who  as  preachers  take  their  stand  on  the  word  of 
God,  and  trust  more  to  it  than  to  philosophy  or  theology. 
Savonarola  was  in  the  habit  of  commending  those  preach- 
ers of  olden  time  who,  in  his  own  words,  "  using  the 
Holy  Scriptures  with  a  simple  and  familiar  language, 
marvellously  spread  light  and  love  among  the  people  ; 
and  he  had  learned  by  his  own  experience  as  a  preacher, 
that  by  putting  aside  tiresome  questions,  and  explaining 
in  their  stead  the  holy  Scriptures,  the  faithful  have  at  all 
times  been  enlightened  and  charmed."  Let  us  remem- 
ber these  words  of  men  who  shook  the  world  from  their 
pulpit  thrones,  in  days  when  the  pulpit  is,  comparatively 
speaking,  so  weak. 

"  Savonarola  was  certainly  born  with  that  kind  of  elo- 
quence which  may  be  called  combative.  Fully  persuaded 
that  he  had  a  divine  mission,  no  sooner  did  he  come  into 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  1 27 

the  presence  of  the  people  than  he  felt  himself  in  a 
-state  of  exaltation,  and  he  gave  free  course  to  his 
thoughts  ;  then  his  fancy  was  lighted  up,  his  power  re- 
vived, his  energy  was  redoubled.  If,  in  obedience  to 
duty,  he  felt  that  he  ought  to  restrain  himself,  the  bright 
color  of  his  imagination  would  most  assuredly  have  all 
vanished,  the  whole  vigor  of  his  eloquence  would  have 
been  subdued,"  ' 

The  first  series  of  his  sermons  on  the  First  Epistle  of 
John  belongs  to  the  year  1491.  "  He  always  begins  with  a 
quotation  from  the  Bible,  around  which  he  gathers  all  his 
theological  ideas  in  conformity  with  his  system  of  inter- 
pretation, bringing  in  their  support  some  new  passage 
taken  from  the  Bible.  We  have  thus  a  heterogeneous 
mass  of  ill-assorted  materials,  amid  which  the  hearer  be- 
comes lost.  Suddenly,  however,  Savonarola  sets  him- 
self entirely  free  ;  his  discourse  has  turned  upon  some 
subject  of  the  time,  deeply  interesting  to  himself  and  his 
audience  ;  his  fancy  is  kindled,  gigantic  images  rise  up 
before  him,  his  voice  becomes  more  sonorous,  his  ges- 
tures more  animated,  his  eyes  seem  to  flash  fire,  and 
from  that  moment  he  becomes  original,  a  great  and  pow- 
erful orator.  But  soon  he  falls  back  again  into  that 
artificial  world  of  ideas,  ill-connected  and  ill-digested,  to 
rise  again  from  them  and  again  to  fall  back  ;  never  being 
able  to  succeed  in  freeing  himself  entirely  from  them, 
nor  ever  allowing  them  to  be  entirely  dominant  over  him. 
In  this  way  whoever  reads  and  diligently  examines  those 
sermons  will  be  obliged  to  confess  that  Savonarola  was 
born  an  orator,  but  that  he  was  wholly  Avanting  in  the  art 
of  oratory.  Hence,  when  the  subject  was  so  deeply  in- 
teresting to  him  as  to  have   complete  mastery  over  him, 


'  "  Hist,  of  Savonarola  and  his  Times,"  Pas.  Villari,   v,  i.  p.    124. 


128  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

nature  took    the  place    of    art,    and   then    only   was    he 
eloquent."  ' 

The  same  author  goes  on  to  remark  (and  what  he 
says  is  the  more  worthy  of  notice  since,  as  has  been  said, 
he  writes  from  a  Roman  Catholic  standpoint)  :  "  The 
somewhat  too  simple  and  ingenuous  eloquence  that 
we  find  in  the  sermons  of  the  thirteenth  century  had 
disappeared,  such  as  those  of  Bernardo  of  Siena  and 
his  followers.  The  preachers,  if  not  of  the  grammarian 
class  (who  were  pedantic),  were  more  like  vulgar  play- 
ers, and  spoke  in  a  kind  of  scholastic  jargon,  which 
was  no  longer  understood.  Hence  the  secret  of  Sa- 
vonarola's great  success  is  to  be  traced  to  the  affec- 
tionate warmth  he  himself  felt,  and  with  which  he  in- 
spired the  people.  His  voice  alone  had  a  familiar  and 
domestic  tone.  His  eloquence  had  a  natural  and  master- 
ful character.  He  spoke  in  a  language  that  touched  the 
hearts  of  the  multitude  ;  he  discoursed  on  the  matters 
that  nearly  concerned  them  ;  he  alone  fought  sincerely 
for  truth,  and  had  a  fervent  love  for  all  virtue,  and  felt 
deeply  the  misfortunes  of  those  he  was  addressing  ;  and 
therefore  in  that  century  he  alone  was  eloquent.  Since 
the  cessation  of  the  holy  eloquence  of  the  Christian 
fathers,  no  other  voice  but  his  has  been  found  worthy  to 
be  transmitted  to  posterity.  To  him  it  is  due  that  ser- 
mons were  again  held  in  honor,  and  received  a  new  life, 
and  hence  he  may  be  termed  the  first  of  modern  orators. ' '  ^ 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  his  sermon  on  love  or 
charity,  preached  at  Advent,  1493  :  "  The  gospel,  my 
Christian  brethren,  must  be  your  constant  companion.  I 
speak  not  of  the  book,  but  of  its  spirit.  If  you  have  not 
the  spirit  of  grace,  although  you  carry  the  whole  volume 


*  Villari  ;  see  v.  i.  pp.  129,  130-135.  -  Id.,  pp.   135,  136. 


IIISrORY   or  PREACHING.  129 

about  with  you,  it  will  be  of  no  avail.  And  how  much 
more  foolish  are  those  who  go  about  loaded  with  briefs 
and  tracts,  and  look  as  if  they  kept  a  stall  at  a  fair. 
Charity  does  not  consist  of  sheets  of  paper.  The  true 
books  of  Christ  are  the  apostles  and  saints  ;  the  true 
reading  of  them  is  to  imitate  their  lives.  But  now  men 
have  become  the  books  of  the  devil." 

The  sermon  on  the  "  City  of  the  Foolish"  is  an  instance 
of  his  boldness  in  attacking  the  sins  of  the  age,  and  the 
city  where  he  lived.  "He  dealt  with  the  evil  habits  of 
the  day,  with  religion  and  with  the  Church,  condemning 
princes  and  priests  ;  and  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
punishment  was  near  at  hand,  and  that  the  good  ought 
to  wish  for  it.  Having  expounded  his  whole  doctrine, 
Savonarola  throws  down  a  gauntlet  of  defiance  to  all 
potentates  on  earth  ;  to  all  princes,  whether  temporal 
or  ecclesiastical  ;  to  the  wealthy,  to  the  dignitaries  among 
the  clergy  and  the  governments — all  became  the  objects 
of  his  charges.  I  am,  he  said,  like  hail,  which  bruises 
every  one  who  has  no  shelter." 

In  regard  to  his  so-called  prophetic  gift,  Villari  says  : 
"  It  was  one  of  those  moments  of  which  he  used  to  say, 
'  An  inward  fire  consumes  my  bones  and  forces  me  to 
speak  out.'  He  was  then  carried  away  by  a  kind  of 
ecstasy,  in  which  the  future  seemed  to  open  up  before 
him.  When  this  followed  him  into  the  solitude  of  his 
cell,  he  remained  a  long  time  the  victim  of  visions,  and 
was  kept  awake  whole  nights,  until  sleep,  getting  the  bet- 
ter of  him,  brought  refreshment  to  his  wearied  body. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  when  this  state  of  ecstasy  took 
possession  of  him  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  people,  there  were  no  bounds  to  his  exaltation  ;  it 
exceeded  all  that  words  can  describe  ;  he  became  as 
it  wxre    the    master  of   all  his  hearers,  and  carried  them 


13©  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

along  with  him  in  the  same  degree  of  excitement.  Men 
and  women  of  all  ages  and  conditions — artisans,  poets, 
philosophers — sobbed  aloud,  so  that  the  walls  of  the 
church  echoed  their  wailings.  The  individual  who  was 
taking  down  the  words  of  the  preacher,  having  had  to 
stop,  Avrote,  '  At  this  place  I  was  so  overcome  by  weeping 
that  I  could  not  go  on.'  Savonarola  himself  had  to  sit 
down  from  exhaustion;  sometimes  he  was  so  much  affected 
as  to  cause  an  illness  that  confined  him  to  his  bed  for 
several  days.  His  written  sermons  cannot  convey  any 
adequate  idea  of  the  eloquence  of  those  moments  ;  many 
of  the  words  must  have  been  missed  in  a  report,  and 
what  remained  can  have  none  of  the  ardor  with  which 
they  were  uttered.  We  can  the  more  readily  believe  in 
the  high  state  of  exaltation  of  the  orator,  in  his  extraor- 
dinary vehemence,  and  in  what  may  be  called  the  elo- 
quence of  his  person  and  gestures,  because  the  little  that 
remains  of  the  words  which  fell  from  his  lips  in  those 
solemn  moments  hardly  accounts  for  the  great  effect  his 
discourses  produced  on  the  Florentine  public,  at  that  time 
the  most  cultivated  in  Europe."  '  He  foretold  his  own 
violent  death  in  words  of  eloquent  pathos."  Savonarola's 
testimony  in  regard  to  his  prophetic  gift  is  thus  quoted  : 
"  I  am  not,"  he  said,  "  either  a  prophet  or  the  son  of  a 
prophet.  I  do  not  dare  to  assume  that  awful  name  ;  but 
I  am  certain  that  the  things  I  announce  will  come  to 
pass,  because  they  spring  from  Christian  doctrine,  from 
the  spirit  of  evangelical  charity.  In  truth  the  sins  of 
Italy  are  your  sins,  by  force  of  which  I  am  a  prophet, 
and  which  ought  to  make  every  one  of  you  a  prophet. 
Heaven  and  earth  prophesy  against  you,  but  ye  neither 
see  nor  hear  them.     You   are   struck  by  mental  blind- 


'  Villari,  v.  i.  pp.  3CX),  301,  '  Id.,  p.  29S. 


HISTORY  OF  PKEACIIING.  131 

ness  ;  you  shut  your  ears  to  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  who 
calls  you.  If  you  had  the  spirit  of  charity  you  would  all 
see  it  as  I  see  it,  that  the  scourge  is  approaching."  ' 

To  sum  up  this  sketch  :  his  main  style  of  preaching 
was  expository,  dwelling  chiefly  on  the  prophetic  books  of 
the  Old  Testament,  such  as  Habakkuk,  Ezekiel,  and  the 
Psalms.  He  was  reared  in  the  Platonic  philosophy,  and 
much  influenced  by  the  scholastic  philosophical  writings. 
He  was  a  political  preacher,  and  may  be  considered  as 
the  founder  of  the  Florentine  republic.  In  his  own  life- 
time he  ruled  Florence  from  his  pulpit.  He  was  a  poet 
and  man  of  literature  and  the  arts,  a  friend  of  Fra 
Bartolommeo  and  other  painters.  He  was  a  many-sided 
and  truly  great  man.  His  chief  sources  of  power  were 
his  consecrated,  holy  character,  his  intense  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  his  great  nature,  that  was  alive  to  all  the 
wants  and  sympathies  of  man's  heart.  He  may  be  said, 
in  some  sense,  to  have  failed  as  a  reformer,  perhaps  from 
the  fact  that  he  was  not  only  a  political  preacher  in  the 
true  sense,  but  he  dealt  with  the  actual  weapons  and  fire- 
brands of  political  strife,  and  of  course  fell  an  early  victim 
to  them. 

To  retrace  our  steps,  and  to  speak  of  the  Middle  Ages 
as  a  whole,  the  greatest  Catholic  or  purely  ecclesiastic 
mediaeval  preacher,  in  point  of  eloquence  and  wide  influ- 
ence, was  Bernard  of  Clairvaux.    He  was  born 

,    ,.     ,  .  TT     •  Bernard  of 

m  lOQi,  and  died  m  11 53.     He  is  sometimes     r-,  . 

-^   '  -'^  Clairvaux. 

called    "  the    last    of  the  fathers,"  and  his 
contemporaries   gave   him    the   title  of  "  the  thirteenth 
apostle."     Dean  Milman  says  of  him  that  "  when  he  ap- 
peared, the   pope  ceased  to  be  the  centre  around  whom 
gather  the  great  events  of  Christian  history,  and  St.  Ber- 


'  Villari,  v.  i.  ch.  vi. 


133  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

nard  is  the  leading  and  governing  head  of  Christendom." 
As  an  orator,  judging  by  the  immediate  effects  of  his 
eloquence,  he  would  have  been  remarkable  in  any  age. 
His  impelling  power  of  speech  roused  all  Europe  until 
"  The  cross  !  the  cross  !"  became  the  universal  cry. 
With  mingled  motives  of  faithfulness  to  God  and  zeal 
for  the  triumph  of  the  Chuych,  he  confronted  and  bore 
down  the  greatest  opposition.  As  an  interpreter  of  the 
Scriptures  he  was  fanciful  and  discursive,  but  always 
glowing  with  earnestness.  Though  inclined  to  mysticism, 
yet  there  was  much  of  the  true  doctrine  of  Christ  in  his 
writing,  which  contrasts  favorably  with  the  jejune  scho- 
lasticism of  the  times  ;  and  here  it  may  be  remarked  that, 
whether  in  the  Greek  or  the  Latin,  in  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic or  the  Protestant  preacher,  where  there  is  genuine 
spiritual  power,  it  springs  not  so  much  from  the  genius  of 
the  man,  or  the  system  under  which  he  is  reared,  as 
from  the  hold  his  mind  has  upon  the  word  of  God, 
It  is  the  divine  unction,  or  anointing  of  the  Spirit,  which 
breathes  something  of  the  divine  into  the  utterances  of 
a  human  soul,  and  makes  him  the  mouthpiece  of  God  ; 
and  instead  of  utterh^  condemning  Roman  Catholicism 
or  any  other  form  of  the  Christian  Church,  however  cor- 
rupt, it  were  more  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  Christ 
to  try  to  look  for  the  evidences  of  true  doctrine  and  of 
Christian  life  and  power  in  these  forms  ;  seeing  that  the 
Spirit  is  not  bound,  and  can  make  use  of  imperfect  men 
in  every  age  and  every  mode  of  the  Christian  faith.  Ber- 
nard's writings  were  numerous,  and  of  his  sermons  there 
are  said  to  be  some  340  extant.  Though  naturally  impe- 
rious, and  though  he  could  be  terrible  and  fierce,  gain- 
ing for  himself  the  title  of  the  "  Dog  of  the  Church," 
yet  a  vein  of  pathetic  tenderness  runs  through  his 
preaching,  especially     in    the    exegetical  discourses   de- 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHIXG.  133 

livered  after  the  death  of  a  dearly  loved  younger 
brother.  He  not  only  professed  with  his  monastic  vows 
a  lofty  and  world-abnegating  holiness,  but  he  seems 
to  have  lived  up  to  it.  Luther  said  of  him  :  "  If  there 
ever  lived  on  this  earth  a  God-fearing  and  holy  monk,  it 
Avas  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux."  Bernard  says,  in  one  of 
his  homilies,  "What  is  ours  but  an  insect  life?  Well 
may  we  ask,  with  the  wise  man,  '  Wliat  profit  hath  a  man, 
for  all  his  labor  under  the  sun  ?  '  Let  us  then  rise 
higher  than  the  sun  ;  let  us  mount  up  to  heaven,  and 
have  our  thoughts  and  affections  there  before  our  bodies 
are  transported  thither.  Earth  is  nothing  but  a  battle- 
field. We  must  fight  here  for  Him  who  liveth  in  the 
heaven  of  heavens  ;  there  with  Him  shall  we  rest  from 
our  labors,  and  receive  our  crown." 

Before  the  time  of  St,  Bernard,  St.  Peter  Damiani  was 

one  of  the  most  prominent  mediaeval  preach- 

.  ^      .  St.  Peter 

ers,  though  his  sermons  were  of  a  strictly      namiani 

conventual  order ;  but  in  his  stern  monastic 
asceticism  there  runs  also  a  vein  of  remarkable  mildness. 
Anselm,  too,  was  a  great  preacher  as  well  as  theologian 
and  statesman,  though  we  have   but  sixteen  of  his  ser- 
mons upon   which   to  found    our  judgment. 
These  are   formed    upon   one  model,  taking 
the  gospel  of  the  day,  and  expounding  it  verse  by  verse. 
The  discourses    are    somewhat   long  and   abstract,    and 
were  probably  preached  to  monks,    Thomas 

Aquinas,  the  scholastic   theologian,   was    a 

7  .  Aquinas — 

priest  of  the   Dominican   preaching    order,       cuaric. 

and  his  sermons  in  the  Latin  and  also  Italian 
language,   though    highly    polemical,    like    his    writings, 
have  the    same    character   of    acuteness,    clearness,    and 
metaphysical  vigor.     Guaric,  Abbot  of  Igniac,  who  mod- 
elled himself  upon  St.  Bernard,  was  in  his  day  a  remark- 


Peter  of 


134  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

able  preacher,  of  a  mystical  but  highly  devotional  style. 
Peter,   Bishop  of  Chartres,  was  a  more  in- 
structive   preacher,    perhaps,    than    any    of 
p  .        ,      these,    though  not    so    eloquent.      Peter  of 
Biois—       Blois  was  called,  in  reference  to  his  sermons, 
Anthony  of    ''  divijiissiinus."     St.  Anthony  of  Padua  (not 
Padua—      Anthony  the  founder  of  monasticism)  is  re- 
nowned for  his  pithy,  odd,  and  story-telling 
Magnus —  11 

Thomas  &.    preaching.   Albertus  Magnus  had  much  that 

Kempis.      is  ingenious  and  not  much  that  is  practical 

and  weighty  in   his  preaching.     Thomas  a 

Kempis,  though  he  possibly  may  not  have  written  the 

"  De  Imitatione,"   yet  was  a  preacher  entirely  in   the 

vein  of  that  incomparable  work. 

We  have  mentioned  the  names  of  these  preachers,  as 
well  as  the  names  of  the  mystical  preachers  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  and  of  a  few  of  the  more  distinctive  re- 
formers through  these  ages,  with  some  particularity,  to 
show   that   we   cannot    condemn    mediaeval 

General  preaching  in  a  wholesale  way,  nor    despise 

summing  up  ,            ,         .               ,           -itt-.i 

.       ,.       ,  altogether  its  study.      With   its    monstrous 

of  mediaeval  ^                               ^ 

preaching,  faults,  that  seemed  at  times  to  extin- 
guish the  pure  light  of  the  gospel  ;  with 
its  system  of  belief  that  regarded  certain  requirements 
connected  with  the  Church  in  the  light  of  an  opus 
opcratir.n ;  with  its  total  failure  of  preaching  through 
long  periods ;  with  its  Latin  homilies,  and,  in  the 
later  scholastic  ages,  its  endless  hair-splitting  specu- 
lations ;  with  its  ascetic  piety  ;  with  its  childish  and 
often  totally  irreverent  mode  of  illustration — with  all 
these  faults  it  still  had  some  marked  merits,  which 
Protestant  preachers  at  this  day  would  do  well  to  note. 

(i.)  Its  popular  quality.  Many  of  these  medieval 
preachers  had  a  highly  popular  talent,  and  were  wonder- 


HISTORY   OF   PKEACHIXG.  135 

fully  successful  in  adapting  themselves  to  a  rustic  audi- 
tory, as  was  said   to   be  the  case  with   the 
Venerable  Bede.     They  spoke  coarsely  but       Popular 

strongly  to  rude  minds.     They  introduced 

°  "^  1  .   1        f  mediaeval 

anecdotes  and  stories,  which,  if  not  always      preachers 

in  good  taste,  were  fitted  to  interest  the 
people,  and  were  sometimes  ver}'  beautiful  and  touch- 
ing, like  the  story  of  Elizabeth  of  Thuringia,  and  also 
the  one  of  St.  Christopher.  German  and  English  preach- 
ers were  more  accustomed  to  this  kind  of  free  and  lively 
illustration  than  the  French  and  Italian.  They  some- 
times introduced  the  most  ludicrous  and  burlesque  stories, 
and  even  vulgar  and  blasphemous  ones.  Robert  of 
Abrissel  was  especially  famous  for  this  buffoonery,  at- 
tracting crowds  as  to  a  low  comedy.  Oliver  Maillard, 
preacher  of  Louis  XI.,  and  Michael  Menot,  of  a  later 
age,  were  also  examples  of  humoristic  preachers.  Doubt- 
less many  things  were  said  by  them  in  simplicity  and 
from  pure  ignorance  ;  thus  Abraham  and  Isaac  are  rep- 
resented by  one  of  these  preachers  as  going  up  Mount 
Moriah  reciting  '' avcs''  and  ''paternosters,"  not  in 
French  or  Latin,  but  in  Hebrew.  One  preacher  calls 
Christ  r Abbe  Jesus.  Nicholas  de  Lyra  says  that  Jesus 
was  of  the  order  of  Friars  Minorites.  Cornelius  Musso, 
a  bishop  who  affected  classical  learning,  speaks  of  our 
Lord  as  "  dying  like  Hercules,  rising  like  Apollo  or  Escu- 
lapius,  ascending  to  heaven  as  a  true  Bellerophon,  a 
second  Perseus  who  had  slain  the  IMedusa  that  changed 
men  into  stones." 

(2.)  Its  dramatic  element.     This  quality  of  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  takes  truth 

f      1  1    •  < .   1    •       . .       Dramatic 

out   or   the   abstract,   and   is  ever      doing         element 

or  "acting"  as  in  life,   is  not   to  be  over- 
looked and  contemned,  as  it  grew  to  be  afterward  in  the 


136  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

rationalizing  view  of  Christian  truth  that  prevailed  after 
the  Reformation  ;  for  thereby  power  is  lost.  The  preach- 
er shrewdly  appealed  to  examples  and  to  facts.  There 
was  a  freshness  and  homely  force  in  the  manner  of  put- 
ting things  which  was  admirable.  We  see  this  in  the 
best  of  preachers,  like  VVyclif  and  Hugh  Latimer. 

(3.)  Its  symbolical  or  spiritual  use  of  Scripture.   Another 

characteristic  of  mediaeval  preaching  which  is  not  to  be  too 

hastily  spoken  against,  is  its  finding  of  spirit- 

Symbohcal     ^^j  instruction   in  all  kinds   and  portions  of 

an    a  egori-  ^^.^   using  it  in  the  way  of  type  and  alle- 

cal  use  of  -^  '  '=' 

Scripture.  g^^'Y-  The  past  was  made  to  teach  the  pres- 
ent. Present  wars  were  found  in  the  old  wars 
of  the  Jews.  The  troubles  and  tribulations  of  the  heart 
were  hidden  under  some  Old  Testament  story,  or  some 
prophetic  figure.  This  at  first  sight  is  a  fault,  and  happily 
is  one  which  will  not  be  reintroduced,  to  a  great  extent, 
into  preaching  ;  but  there  is  something  to  be  said  in  its 
favor  in  this  respect,  that  it  served  to  give  a  sacred 
flavor,  a  mellow  biblical  tone  to  the  sermons  of  some  of 
these  preachers.  It  led  them  to  regard  the  whole  Bible, 
the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  the  New,  as  a  spiritual 
granary,  in  every  nook  and  corner  of  which  food  might 
be  obtained  for  the  nourishment  of  piety.  But  what  is 
called  technically  "  allegorical  preaching"  is  certainl)^  not 
to  be  recommended. 

(4.)  Its  abundant  use  of  Scripture  citation.  Their  very 
use  of  Scripture  for  the  purposes  just  named  compelled 

Abundant  preachers  to  this.  It  would  indeed  be  surpris- 
use  of        ing  to  most  of  us,  who  are  in  the  habit   of 

Scripture  thinking  that  Luther  and  the  reformers  re- 
citation, stored  the  Bible  to  the  pulpit,  to  find  how  sat- 
urated are  those  sermons  of  the  Middle  Ages  with  the 
sacred  writings — turned   often  wholly  out  of  their  right 


HISTORY  OF  PKEACIIIXG.  137 

meanings,  and  absurdly  applied — but  nevertheless  giving 
an  indescribably  devotional  tone  to  sermons.  These 
quotations  do  not  seem  to  be  made  for  the  purpose 
of  propping  up  dogmas,  but  they  appear  to  be  the 
natural  expressions  of  religious  sentiments — the  only 
forms  in  which  the  minds  of  these  rather  childish  and 
untaught  preachers  ran  in  expressing  their  feelings  on 
divine  themes.' 

(5.)  Its  fruits  of  meditative  piety.  One  might  also 
say  something  favorable  of  the  rare  fruits  of  meditation 
and  of  contemplative  wisdom  to  be  found  in 
the  Middle  Ages — of  even  a  profound  self- 


abnegating  love  and  faith — shining  like  gems 


Fruits  of 

meditative 

piety. 


in  dark  caverns.  In  addition  to  this  list  of 
what  may  be  said  in  favor  of  mediaeval  preaching,  it 
might  also  be  said  that  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  period 
some  of  the  preaching  was  of  a  noble  aggressive  charac- 
ter. This  was  the  age  of  the  great  missionary  preachers 
of  the  Romish  Church,  to  whose  heroic  efforts  we  our- 
selves owe  the  Bible  and  Christianity. 

We  will  not  enter  into  the  more  familiar  and  prolific 
theme   of   the  crudities  and  absolute   falsities  of  monk- 
ish   and    medieval    preaching — its    obscur-      ^     ... 
ing    of    the     vital    truths     of     the     word.  and 

Some  of  these  have  already  been  suggest-     falsities  of 
ed  ;    and,    with    such    noble    exceptions    as     mediaeval 
have    been    mentioned,    preaching    was,    it 
must  be   confessed,  generally  but    as     the     blind   lead- 
ing the  blind.     Brawling  and  ignorant  priests  used  their 
spiritual   authority,  and    their   office     as   leaders  of   the 
people,  to   foment   discords   in   the  state,  to   fasten   the 
chains  of  ecclesiastical  tyranny  more  firmly,  and  to  carry 


'  See  Neale's  "  Mediaeval  Preaching." 


138  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

out   their    own    crafty  and    evil   purposes.      The   period 
even  immediately  preceding  the   Reformation  witnessed 
a  most   profound   depth   of    degradation  in  the  manner 
and  matter   of   preaching.     The    harangues  of  the  pul- 
pit were  addressed  to  the  lowest  passions,  and,  above  all, 
to  the  sentiment  of  the  marvellous  ;  and  they  sometimes 
consisted    wholly    in    the    detailing    of    absurd    legends 
hatched    in     the    brains     of    half-cunning,    half-fanatical 
monks,  in   the   cells  of  monasteries.      Mummeries  were 
enacted    in    the    pulpit.       Anything    like    a 
ummenes    pjous  sentiment,  at  one  period,  in  the  pulpits 
absurdities     ^^    prominent  cathedral  churches  was  con- 
sidered almost  insupportable  ;    and    at    the 
Easter  season  especially,  preachers  taxed  their  ingenuity 
to    invent    all    kinds    of    folly  and  vulgar   witticisms,  to 
amuse    the    audience  and    to    excite  roars  of    laughter  ; 
and,  generally  speaking,  though  there  were  ever  excep- 
tions to  this,  preaching  had   come   to  such  a  pass  that, 
when  Luther  arose,  in   the   beginning   of  the   sixteenth 
century,  he  saw  the  necessity  of  reforming  not  only  the 
Church,  but  the  pulpit  itself,  and  the  Church  through  the 
pulpit.       Reuchlin    and    Erasmus,   it   must   be   said,  had 
somewhat  prepared  the  way  for  and    preceded    him    in 
this    idea.       Erasmus's    book,  written    in    1535,    a   year 
before  his  death,  entitled  "  Ecclesiastes,  sive  concionator 
evangelicus,"  sets  forth  in  a  clear  and  impressive  manner 
the  needs  and  qualities  of  true  evangelical  preaching  :   I. 
Qualifications  ;   II.    Examples    and    illustrations    of  elo- 
quence ;   III.   The   use   or   handling  of  Holy   Scripture. 
Before,    however,    leaving    this    theme     of    micdiaival 
preaching,  we  would  gather  up  a  few  small 
Mediaeval      j^ems  of  a  nobler  kind,  chiefly  from  Nean- 
gems.  1     ,     -^1         1    TT-  •  1 

der  s  Church  History,  m  order  that  we  may 

see  that  the  Spirit  of  God  had  not  forsaken  the  Church 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  139 

or  its  ministers  in  these  ages.  For  example,  St.  Ber- 
nard preached,  with  a  liberality  beyond  his  age,  that 
"  infidels  should  not  be  put  to  death  or  suffer  loss,  but 
only  prevented  from  oppressing  Christians."  St.  Francis 
of  Assisi  said  that  "  a  heart  fixed  in  God  is  all  that 
gives  actions  their  real  importance."  Otto,  Bishop  of 
Pomerania,  when  presented  by  some  of  his  people  with 
a  rare  and  delicate  dish  for  his  table,  said,  "  Give  this 
costly  dish  to  Christ" — that  is,  to  the  poor.  As  a 
fruit  of  similar  teaching,  it  is  related  in  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury of  the  wealthy  father  of  a  family  who,  whenever 
he  went  to  the  church,  was  accustomed  to  take  provisions 
with  him  to  feed  one  poor  family,  proving  his  faith  by 
his  works.  Ambrose  of  Siena  set  forth  very  distinctly 
the  social  duties  and  influence  of  the  Christian  man. 
Richard  a  Sancte  Victore  calls  the  changing  light  and 
darkness  in  the  life  of  the  soul  "  a  needful  darkness,  a 
necessary  vicissitude  of  this  present  earthly  life,  where  it 
cannot  always  be  clear  day  as  it  is  in  heaven  ;  but  there 
must  be,  as  in  the  sphere  of  the  natural  world,  day  and 
night."  Abbot  Bernard  of  Tiron  says  :  "  All  virtues  be- 
sides love  are  perishable  ;  but  this  consists  of  the  essence 
of  all  God's  commandments  ;  by  this  alone  the  disciples 
of  Christ  are  distinguished  from  the  children  of  anti- 
christ." .^gidius  of  Assisi  declared  that  "  only  through 
humility  can  man  attain  to  the  knowledge  of  God  ; 
the  path  upward  begins  downward."  Guibert  of  Novi- 
gentum,  in  the  twelfth  century,  who  wrote  on  homi- 
letics,  insisted  upon  the  preacher's  preaching  Christian 
morality,  and  treating  of  the  motives  of  actions.  He 
said:  "  No  sermon  was  more  useful  than  that  which  showed 
men  to  themselves,  and  led  back  those  who,  by  the  dis- 
traction of  outward  things,  had  become  estranged  from 
themselves  in  the  secret  recesses  of  their  hearts  ;  present- 


14°  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

ing  them  as  if  reflected  from  a  mirror  to  their  own  eyes." 
He  also  advised  brevity  in  preaching,  because  otherwise 
hearers  could  not  retain  it  in  their  memories.  Another 
father,  Alanus  ab  InsuHs,  of  the  thirteenth  century,  who 
was  a  writer  on  homiletics,  or  "  Smnma  dc  arte  prcudica- 
toritty"  defines  preaching  to  be,  Prcdicatio  est  manifesta et 
ptiblica  instriictio  inoruin  ct  Jidci,  inforniationc  iiomimim 
descrvicns  ct  ratioimvi  scjuita  ct  auctoritaton  fontc  pro- 
vcniens."  He  held  to  the  theory  (not  so  defensible)  that 
preaching  must  be  addressed  to  believers,  as  other  men 
held  it  in  contempt,  and  therefore  they  could  not  be  bene- 
fited. "  Indigfiis  ct  obstinatis  subtrahoida  est  prc€dicatio." 
Humbert  de  Romanis  sets  the  preaching  of  Christ 
even  above  prayer,  Thomas  Aquinas,  learned  theologian 
as  he  was,  took  the  greatest  pains  to  preach  plainly  to  the 
common  people.  Abelard  said  that  "  The  fear  of  the 
Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom.  But  the  perfection  of 
it  is  pure  love  to  God  for  his  own  sake."  Said  Anselm, 
"  The  highest  truth  is  that  which  manifests  itself  to  the 
spirit."  And  Alexander  of  Hales  declared  that  "The- 
ology itself  is  more  a  matter  of  wisdom  and  temper  than 
of  systematic  knowledge.  It  is  rather  divine  wisdom  than 
human  science." 

Sec.  9.   Preaching  of  the  Reformation  Period. 

The  iron  unity  of  the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages,  both 

omtward  and  inward,  pressing  all  minds  into  one  mould 

.       ..        and    repressing    thought    on    religious    sub- 

of  Brescia—  jects,  could   only  be  broken   up  by  a  strong 

Savonarola—  instrument.      Arnold  of  Brescia,  Savonarola 

Wyclif-Huss  in  Italy,  Wyclif  in  England  (called  the  true 

founder  of   the   English   pulpit),    Huss   and 

Jerome   in   Bohemia,  Waldo   in   France,   had   done  their 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  141 

preparatory  work  ;  but  there  needed  to  be  a  man  sent 
from  God  to  do  the  work  for  all  the  groaning  nations, 
Luther  was  that  man. 

There  is  no  need  of  relating  the  thrice-familiar  story  of 
Martin  Luther's  life.  By  nature  he  was  endowed  with 
great  human  sympathies  and  passions,  with  Luther 
lively  imagination,  with  manly  earnestness 
and  singleness  of  aim,  and  with  a  heroic  love  of  truth. 
It  was  this  last  quality,  by  the  grace  of  God,  which  led  him 
from  being,  as  he  called  himself,  "  the  most  insane  of 
papists,"  to  be  a  reformer  of  the  Church  of  God.  An  Eng- 
lish historian  says  of  him  :  "  Men  of  Luther's  stature  arc 
like  the  violent  forces  of  nature  herself — terrible  when 
roused,  and  in  repose  majestic  and  beautiful.  Of  vanity 
he  had  not  a  trace.  '  Do  not  call  yourselves  Lutherans,* 
he  said  ;  '  call  yourselves  Christians.  Who  and  what  is 
Luther?  Has  Luther  been  crucified  for  the  world  ?  '  I 
mentioned  his  love  of  music.  His  songs  and  hymns  were 
the  expression  of  the  very  inmost  heart  of  the  German 
peoples.  Music  he  called  '  the  grandest  and  sweetest 
gift  of  God  to  man.'  '  Satan  hates  music,'  he  said  ; 
'  he  knows  how  it  drives  the  evil  spirit  out  of  us.'  He 
was  extremely  interested  in  all  natural  things.  Be- 
fore the  science  of  botany  was  dreamed  of,  Luther  had 
divined  the  principle  of  vegetable  life.  '  The  principle 
of  marriage  runs  through  all  creation,'  he  said  ;  '  and 
flowers  as  well  as  animals  are  male  and  female.'  A 
garden  called  out  bursts  of  eloquence  from  him,  beautiful 
sometimes  as  a  finished  piece  of  poetry.  .  .  .  Eras- 
mus considered  that  sometimes  a  He  might  be  as  good  as 
truth  ;  but  a  lie,  ascertained  to  be  a  lie,  to  Luther  was 
poison — poison  to  him,  and  poison  to  all  who  meddled 
with  it.  In  his  own  genuine  greatness  he  was  too  hum- 
ble to  draw  insolent   distinctions  in  his  own  favor,   or  to 


142  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

believe  that  any  one  class  on  earth  is  of  more  importance 
than  another  in  the  eyes  of  the  Great  Maker  of  them 
all."' 

Upon  the  vivid  and  dramatic  power  of  eloquence  like 
Luther's,  Dr.  Bushnell  remarks  :  "  It  is  a  fact  to  be 
carefully  noted  that  all  the  best  saints  and  most  impress- 
ive teachers  of  Christ  are  those  who  have  found  how  to 
present  him  best  in  the  dramatic  forms  of  his  personal 
history.  Such  were  Chrysostom,  Augustine,  Luther, 
Tauler,  Wesley.  Those  great  souls  could  not  be  shut  up 
under  the  opinional  way  of  doctrine,  or  even  under  their 
own  opinions.  Their  gospel  was  not  dry,  and  thin,  and 
small  in  quantity  as  being  in  man's  quantity,  and  there- 
fore soon  exhausted  ;  it  Avas  no  part  of  their  idea  to  be 
always  hammering  in  or  hammering  on  some  formulated 
article,  but  they  had  a  wonderful  outspreading  of  life  and 
volume,  because  they  breathed  so  freely  the  supernatural 
inspirations  of  Christ,  and  let  their  inspirations  forth  in 
such  grand  liberties  of  utterance.  They  were  men 
thoroughly  Christed  by  their  inspirations  and  deep  be- 
holdings  in  the  gospel  facts.  They  had  gotten  such 
insight  into  the  ways  and  times  and  occasions  of  their 
Master's  life  that  subjects  enough  and  truths  always 
fresh  were  springing  into  form  in  all  points  of  the  story. 
And  they  were  not  mere  surface  subjects  ;  but  they  were 
cogent,  massive,  piercing,  pricking  in  conviction,  melting 
ice-bound  states  away,  battering  down  every  citadel  of 
prejudice,  and  flowing  out  in  senses  of  God  that  make  a 
wonderfully  divine  atmosphere  about  the  circles  they  live 
in,  and  the  audiences  before  which  they  appear."  " 

We  will   speak  more   definitely  of  Luther's  oratorical 


'  Froude's  "  Short  Studies  on  Great  Subjects." 
"^  "  Sermons  on  Living  Subjects,"  p.  86. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  143 

training  ;  but  would  now  only  say  that  by  art  and  study 

he  was  the  possessor  of  great  erudition  for 

his  time  ;  at  the  same  time  metaphysician      Learning 

...         .  ,  and 

and  poet,  musician  and  linguist,  the  master         .  . 

of  a  forcible,  popular  eloquence  ;  and  to  all 

these  advantages  were  added   a  deep  religious  nature,  a 

power  of  intuition  in  spiritual  things,  an  invincible  faith 

in  the  word  of  God  and  in  the  divine  instrumentality  of 

preaching.      Luther    plucked   up  preaching 

from   the  mire  in   which   it  had   fallen,  and       Rescued 

reinstated  it  as  the  central  light  in  the  house     P''**'^  *"£ 

from  its 
of    God.      From    its  fanciful  and  allegorical       nee-lect 

character,  its  scholastic  and  dry  and  dead 
forms  of  Aristotelian  logic,  he  restored  the  true  idea  of 
preaching — viz.,  the  scriptural  homily,  or  the  bringing  of 
pure  biblical  truth  to  bear  directly  on  the  reason,  con- 
science, and  sympathy  of  men.  He  was  eminently  practical 
in  his  view  of  truth,  holding  that  truth  was  of  no  value 
unless  it  bore  upon  the  reality  of  things,  upon  the  king- 
doms of  good  and  evil  in  the  world  ;  and  thus  in  his  use 
of  truth  he  was  eminently  the  preacher  instead  of  the 
philosopher,  employing  preaching  as  an  instrumentality 
in  the  vernacular  tongue.  Michelet  says  :  "  He  treated 
religion  in  his  mother  tongue  ;  by  that  he  moved  the 
world."  The  great  work  which  he  did,  though  aided 
and  confirmed  by  his  writings,  was  chiefly 
carried   forward  by  his  preaching  ;    he  said  ormation 

1  •         If   ..  T     •      1  ,     1  •   1    ,  ,  carried  forward 

nimselt.     It  is  the  word  which  has  consumed      ,  •„    u^  j^is 

the  papacy,  and  no  emperor  or  prince  could      preaching, 
have    done    this."       There   was  wonderful 
spiritual    vitality    in   his    preaching,  which    affected   the 
lives  of  men  before  he   broke  with  the  papacy,  or  even 
supposed  himself  to  be  a  reformer  of  the  Church.      His 
preaching  thus  led  others  on,  and  he  was  himself  led  on 


144  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

by  his  preaching.     Truly,  his  words  were  "  half  battles." 
Luther    said    of    his    work    and  his   preach- 
Character      -^^^^     .<  j    ^^^^     hoxn     to    fight    with     devils 
and  quality  of  .  ~,  .      .       ,  , 

.  .  and   factions.       1  his  is  the  reason  that  my 

preaching.  -' 

writings  are  so  boisterous  and  stormy.  It  is 
my  business  to  remove  obstructions,  to  cut  down  thorns, 
to  fill  up  quagmires,  and  to  open  and  make  straight  the 
paths  ;  but  if  I  must  necessarily  have  some  failing,  let 
me  rather  speak  the  truth  with  too  great  severity  than 
once  to  act  the  hypocrite,  and  conceal  the  truth."  He 
was  dogmatic,  overbearing,  and  coarse,  as  in  his  contro- 
versies with  Erasmus  and  Zwingli  ;  he  was  bitter,  sarcas- 
tic, and  brought  every  kind  of  force  in  him  to  bear  upon 
his  adversaries,  even  his  poetic  and  musical  talent. 

As  to  Luther's  oratorical  education,  he  devoted  him- 
self at  Erfurth  with  the  greatest  diligence  to  humanistic 
studies.  Melanchthon  says  :  "  As  his  mind, 

.      ..  full  of  zeal  for  learning,  aspired    to  greater 

education.  t>'       r  & 

and  better  attainments,  he  read  most  of  the 
works  of  the  old  Latin  authors — Cicero,  Virgil,  Livy,  and 
others.  These  he  also  read,  not  in  the  manner  of  boys, 
who  seize  only  upon  the  words,  but  as  true  lessons  and 
portraitures  of  human  life.  Therefore  he  clearly  per- 
ceived the  intent  and  meaning  of  these  authors,  and  as 
he  possessed  a  true  and  tenacious  memory,  that  which 
was  best  in  what  he  had  read  and  heard  was  ever  present 
before  his  eyes."  Luther  in  his  writings  spoke  strongly 
of  the  value  of  such  studies,  and  he  often  expressed  his 
wonder  at  the  wisdom  of  pagan  writings.  He  saw  in  them 
sometimes  the  teachings  of  God's  good  Spirit.  He  culti- 
vated, above  all,  those  authors  of  antiquity  who  could  aid 
him  in  speaking,  and  he  agreed  with  Erasmus  in  thinking 
that  Quintilian  was  the  greatest  teacher  of  the  oratorical 
art.      He  also  pursued  studies  in  philosophy,  in  natural 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHI^TG.  1 45 

science,  in  history-,  having  a  broad  conception  of  the  cul- 
ture which  a  preacher  and  teacher  of  the  people  required. 
But  above  all  he  gave  himself  to  the  study  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, thinking  that  there  was  the  preacher's  whole  treas- 
ury of  truth.  And  in  the  first  place  he  strove  to  make 
himself  a  master  of  the  original  languages  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. He  said  it  was  a  shame  that  Christians  did  not 
understand  their  own  book,  the  word  which  God  had 
given  them,  and  the  very  words  in  which  God  had  given 
it  to  them  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  his  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  to  translate  them  so  as  to  give  them  to  the 
people  in  their  own  tongue,  gave  him  his  wondrous 
power  as  a  preacher  to  reach  the  religious  nature.  He 
spoke  freely  and  directly  out  of  the  word.  He  was  filled 
with  it.  He  recognized  its  unity  as  the  testimony  and 
the  testament  of  Christ.  He  rose  above  its  letter  into  its 
spirit.  He  thus  became  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  and  used 
the  word  of  God  as  an  irresistible  sword  to  conquer  all  op- 
position, error,  and  unbelief.  He  was  another,  and  per- 
haps still  greater  instance  of  the  preacher  who  draws 
his  strength  immediately  from  the  word — who  is  its  true 
interpreter  and  witness.  And  it  is  to  be  remembered, 
as  Michelet  says,  that  while  other  preachers  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  and  of  his  times  spoke  mostly  in  Latin,  he 
preached  in  German  to  Germans  as  a  German,  and  with 
what  vigor  and  what  freshness  !  Next  to  his  fidelity  to 
biblical  truth,  or  the  evangelic  spirit  in  his  preaching,  he 
mastered  audiences  by  his  emotional  power,  his  passion, 
his  immense  vitality.  His  nature,  full  of  great  affections 
and  great  feelings,  was  itself  a  mighty  power. 

Melancthon  said  that  "  Luther's  words  were  born, 
not  on  his  lips  but  in  his  soul."  They  thus  moved 
men  profoundly,  in  spite  of  their  occasional  violence  and 
immoderateness. 


146  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

"  We  take  the  precise  man  for  a  religious  man.  We 
are  content  to  see  him  stiff  in  his  black  coat,  choked  in 
a  white  cravat,  with  a  prayer-book  in  his  hand.  We 
confound  piety  with  decency,  propriety,  permanent  and 
perfect  regularity.  We  proscribe  to  a  man  of  faith  all 
candid  speech,  all  bold  gesture,  all  fire  and  dash  in  word 
and  act  ;  we  are  shocked  by  Luther's  rude  words,  the 
bursts  of  laughter  which  shook  his  mighty  frame,  his 
work-a-day  rages,  his  plain  and  free  speaking,  the  auda- 
cious familiarity  with  which  he  treats  Christ  and  the 
Deity.  W^e  do  not  remember  that  these  freedoms  and 
this  recklessness  are  simply  signs  of  entire  belief ;  that 
warm  and  immoderate  conviction  is  too  sure  of  itself  to 
be  tied  down  to  an  irreproachable  style  ;  that  primitive 
religion  consists   not  of   formalities  but  of  emotions."' 

As  an  illustration  of  Luther's  naivete  and  realness  there 
is  the  following  passage  from  his  table-talk  :  "  When 
Jesus  Christ,"  he  said,  "  was  born,  he  doubtless  cried 
and  wept  like  other  children,  and  his  mother  tended  him 
as  other  mothers  tend  their  children.  As  he  grew  up  he 
was  submissive  to  his  parents,  and  waited  on  them,  and 
carried  his  supposed  father's  dinner  to  him  ;  but  when 
he  came  back,  Mary  no  doubt  often  said,  '  My  dear  little 
Jesus,  where  hast  thou  been  ?  '  " 

Luther's  best  sermons  are  adjudged  to  be  his  church- 
postils  ikirchenpostillc)  on  from  1522,  which 

Form  of  his    -^vere  prepared  to  be  read  in  the  churches. 

sermons—    ^w^  house-postils  Uiaiis-postillc),  while  town 
church-postils  -.ir.  ,  ,  1 

and  house-    pi'^^^her  at   Wittenburg,    were   perhaps   al- 

postils.       most  as  good,  and  were  extemporaneously 

delivered.     There   are   many   other   famous 

sermons    which    have    been    collected    and    published. 


Taine's  "  English  Literature,"  v.  i.  p.  384. 


X 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  147 

His  sermons  remind  one,  in  some  respects,  of  those 
of  Augustine,  upon  whom  he  modelled  himself.  They 
are  plain  and  practical,  oftentimes  exhibiting  an  easy- 
elegance  of  style,  and  they  usually  spring  from  the 
running  exposition  of  passages  of  Scripture  {Perikopeii), 
sometimes  without  any  special  text  ;  but  still,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  all  the  principal  parts  of  the  sermon — the  text, 
the  theme,  the  exposition,  the  argument,  and  the  appli- 
cation—arc found  in  his  discourses.  A  large  portion  of 
them  are  upon  doctrinal  subjects — upon  the 

being  of  God,  and  the  creation  ;  upon  sin, 

.  ,  •>      c  sermons. 

justification  by  faith,  and  the  nature,  char- 
acter, and  work  of  Christ  ;  upon  the  Church  and  its 
sacraments — but  all  with  a  strong  controversial  drift, 
contending  against  the  pope  and  the  Roman  hierarchy  ; 
mingling  the  contests  that  were  then  going  on  with  the 
older  conflict  of  light  and  darkness,  of  God  and  his 
enemy. 

To  sum  up  this  description,  it  might  be  said,  in  a  word, 
that   Luther's  preaching,  as   well  as  his  writing,  sprang 
from  his  profound  conception  of  the  gospel  ;      Summarv 
of  the  length  and  breadth,   the  height  and    of  qualities 
depth  of  the  work  and  the  law  of  Jesus  Christ.  as  a 

He  came  more  and  more  to  see  the  spiritual  preacher, 
aspects  and  inner  substance  of  Christian  faith.  Christ 
was  his  unceasing  theme.  He  said  :  "  All  the  wisdom 
of  the  world  is  childish  foolishness  compared  with  the 
acknowledgment  of  Christ."  He  said  again:  "Jesus 
Christ  is  the  only  beginning  and  end  of  all  my  divine 
cogitations,  day  and  night ;  yet  I  find  and  freely  confess 
that  I  have  attained  but  only  to  a  small  and  weak  begin- 
ning of  this  deep  and  precious  profundity."  Merely 
rhetorically  speaking,  Luther,  as  was  said,  despised  no 
learning,   or   art,  or   any  other  lawful  weapon,   such  as 


148  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

figurative  illustration,  allegory,  story,  irony,  and  wit  ; 
yet  he  did  not  trust  to  any  such  weapon.  He  reproves 
preachers  "  who,"  he  said,  "  aim  at  sublimity,  difficulty, 
eloquence,  who,  neglecting  the  souls  of  the  poor,  sought 
their  own  praise  and  honor,  and  to  please  one  or  two 
persons  of  consequence." 

Speaking  of  his  own  preaching,  Luther  said  :  "  When 
a  man  comes  into  the  pulpit  for  the  first  time,  he  is  much 
perplexed  by  the  number  of  heads  before  him.  When  I 
ascend  the  pulpit  I  see  no  heads,  but  imagine  those  that 
are  before  me  to  be  all  blocks.  When  I  preach  I  sink 
myself  deeply  down  ;  I  regard  neither  doctors  nor  mas- 
ters, of  which  there  are  in  the  church  above  forty.  But 
I  have  an  eye  to  the  multitude  of  young  people,  chil- 
dren, and  servants,  of  which  there  are  more  than  two 
thousand.  I  preach  to  them.  I  direct  my  discourse  to 
those  that  have  need  of  it.  A  preacher  should  be  a 
logician  and  a  rhetorician — that  is,  he  must  be  able  to 
teach  and  admonish.  When  he  preaches  on  any  article, 
he  must  first  distinguish  it,  then  define,  describe,  and 
show  what  it  is  ;  thirdly,  he  must  produce  sentences  from 
the  Scripture  to  prove  and  to  strengthen  it  ;  fourthly, 
he  must  explain  it  by  examples  ;  fifthly,  he  must  adorn 
it  with  similitudes  ;  and,  lastly,  he  must  admonish  and 
arouse  the  indolent,  correct  the  disobedient,  and  reprove 
the  authors  of  false  doctrine." 

Luther  introduced  freshness  and  nature  into  the  pulpit, 
as  well  as  knowledge,  earnestness,  and  faith.  He  was 
more  progressive  and  bolder  in  his  preaching  than  even  in 
his  writing,  for  in  the  pulpit  he  was  himself.  There  was  a 
free  speaking  out  from  himself,  as  if  he  had  broken  from 
precedents  and  rules.  We  see  the  man  ever  in  his  words. 
There  was  strong  personality,  a  fearless  expression  of  indi- 
vidual experience,  thought,  and  feeling  of  the  truth.   This 


X 


HISTORY  OF  PREACH TXG.  149 

boldness,  freshness,  and  naturalness,  united  with  knowl- 
edge, and  knowledge  above  all  of  God's  word,  made  him 
a  preacher  whom  the  common  people  heard  gladly.  He 
was  their  prophet.  He  spoke  to  them  directly,  as  from 
"  the  living  oracles. "  He  spoke  political  as  well  as  religious 
truth.  He  preached  from  the  abundance  of  a  heart  filled 
with  the  divine  message,  and,  as  by  a  kind  of  prophetic 
inspiration,  making  him  the  creator  of  a  new  time,  illus- 
trating the  words  of  Neander  :  "A  certain  faculty  of 
prophecy  seems  implanted  in  humanity  ;  the  longing 
heart  goes  forth  to  meet  beforehand  great  and  new  crea- 
tions ;  undefined  presentiments  hasten  to  anticipate  the 
mighty  future."  * 

Calvin,   in   some   respects,  was  the  exact  opposite  of 
Luther,  both  as  a  theologian  and  a  preacher.     More  of  a 

dialectician  than  orator,  his  work  seemed  to 

.  Calvin, 

be    the    systemizing  and    co-ordinating   of 

doctrine,  rather  than  the  preaching  of  living  truth  freshly 
to  men.  He  had  some  of  the  best  characteristics  of  the 
French  mind — clearness,  precision,  logical  ability.  He 
was  a  great  reasoner.  He  did  not  address  the  senti- 
ments and  passions,  as  did  Luther,  and  draw  men  by  their 
hearts  ;  but  he  bound  them  fast  in  the  serried  links  of 
his  iron  logic.  Even  in  his  early  academic  days,  such 
was  the  trenchant  positiveness  of  his  character  that  his 
companions  surnamed  him  the  "  Accusative."  His  style 
was  neat,  polished,  and  concise.  Bossuet  said  of  Calvin, 
"  Son  style  est  triste  ;"  but  Calvin,  stern  theologian  as  he 
was,  had  some  of  the  qualities  of  a  great  preacher.  He 
ruled  the  turbulent  city  of  Geneva  from  his  pulpit.  He 
had  a  style,  it  is  true,  totally  bare  of  ornament,  and  with 
no  ray  of  imagination,  or  of  anything  that  gave  evidence 


'  "  Ch.  Hist.,"  V.  iv.  p.  2i6. 


150  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

of  the  influence  of  Nature,  though  he  lived  in  the 
shadow  of  Mont  Blanc  ;  but  his  preaching  was  weighty 
with  biblical  truth,  clear  in  its  reasoning,  and  burning 
with  an  intense  purpose.  There  is  no  doubt,  however, 
that,  in  all  the  qualities  of  genuine  pulpit  eloquence, 
•+    Luther  was  much  the  greater  preacher. 

Calvin  was  passionless  in  his  life  ;  he  did  not  go  through 
those  mighty  struggles  with  doubt  and  evil  that  Luther 
went  through,  and  therefore  he  was  not  so  truly  a  repre- 
sentative man  as  Luther  was  ;  men  and  whole  peoples 
did  not  see  in  him  a  type  of  themselves  ;  they  did  not  go 
to  him  for  aid  and  sympathy  ;  he  was  not,  in  fact,  so 
genuinely  a  people's  preacher.  But  he  was  the  intel- 
lectual complement  of  Luther.  He  made  up  Luther's 
marked  defects.  He  supplied  the  calm  will,  the  regula- 
tive and  reflective  principle  to  the  Reformation,  which  it 
needed  ;  and  he  is  therefore  to  be  looked  upon  as  the 
legislator  rather  than  the  mouthpiece  or  prophet,  or 
preacher,  of  that  great  movement.  The  Calvinistic  sys- 
tem of  theology,  in  many  respects  a  reproduction  of  the 
Augustinian,  has  indirectly  exerted  an  immense  influence 
upon  preaching,  in  some  respects  good,  in  others  bad. 
So  positively  defined,  so  iron-bound  in  its  logic,  it  power- 
fully moulds  everything  that  comes  into  the  grasp  of  its 
influence  ;  and  it  has  in  this  way  shaped  the  preaching 
of    the    Puritan    churches    in    England    and 

^      ,  „  „'      Scotland,  and  also  in  America,  and  served 
Farel,  Haller, 

Bucer         ^^  S^^^  ^^  its  rigidly  theological  type. 

Barnes,  Knox,      Zwingli,  with  his  simple,  manly,  and  heart- 

Cranmer,      fglt  style  of  preaching  ;   Farel,  Haller,  Bucer, 

and  the  other  Barnes,    and    Bullinger  ;     Knox,     Cranmer, 
Reformers.     ^       .  ^         ,     _^  ,     ,  ,        ,- 

Latimer,  Jewel,  Hooper,  and  the  other  Ger- 

man  and   English  reformers — these  aided  to  restore  the 

dignity,  earnestness,  and  biblical  authority  of  the  pulpit. 


\ 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  15 1 

The  preaching  of  the  Reformation  period  had  in  it  the 
missionary  element  ;  it  was  again  the  true  jiijpvKEia,  the 
voice  of  the  herald  to  awaken  the  slumbering  nations  ;  nor 
did  it  entirely  lack  what  is  to  be  seen  also  in  Luther's 
preaching,  the  power  of  edification,  the  power  to  build 
up  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  preach- 
ing of  the  Reformation,  wherever  its  seeds  were  carried, 
was  characterized  by  its  scriptural  directness,  its  freedom 
from  ecclesiastical  forms,  and  robust  energy. 

Latimer's  preaching  is  particularly  noteworthy  for  its 
strength,  boldness,  and  quaint  humor.  He  who  could 
quote  against  Henry  VHL  the  passage, 
"  whoremongers  and  adulterers  God  will 
judge,"  and  who  comforted  Ridley  at  the  stake  with  such 
powerful  and  sublime  words,  could  preach  to  the  com- 
mon people  also  with  great  familiarity.  He  too  was  a 
story-telling  preacher,  and  his  stories  had  all  the  vivid- 
ness and  point  of  Luther's.  As  one  instance  of  his  odd 
and  plain  speaking,  I  will  quote  what  he  said  upon 
feminine  apparel.  "  I  think  Mary  had  not  much  fine 
gear.  She  was  not  trimmed  up  as  our  women  are  now- 
adays. I  think,  indeed,  Mary  had  never  a  fardingale  ; 
for  she  used  no  such  superfluities  as  our  fine  damsels 
do,  for  in  the  old  time  women  were  content  with  honest 
and  single  garments.  Now  they  have  found  out  these 
roundaboutes  ;  the  devil  was  not  so  cunning  to  make 
such  gear — he  found  it  out  afterward."  Latimer  called 
the  priests  and  bishops  who  failed  to  instruct  their  peo- 
ple in  divine  truth  "  bells  without  clappers  ";  and  he 
speaks  of  "strawberry-preachers  whose  season  was  but 
once  a  year."  He  says  of  himself,  "  I  have  a  manner  of 
teaching  which  is  very  tedious  to  them  that  be  learned. 
I  am  wont  even  to  repeat  those  things  which  I  have  said 
before,  which   repetitions  are    nothing   pleasant    to    the 


152  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

learned  ;  but  it  is  no  matter — I  care  not  for  them  :  I 
seek  more  the  profit  of  those  which  be  ignorant  than  to 
please  learned  men.  Therefore  I  often  repeat  such 
things  which  be  needful  for  them  to  know,  for  I  would 
so  speak  that  they  might  be  edified  withal."  His 
famous  illustration  of  the  Goodwin  sands  and  Tenterden 
steeple  is  an  instance  of  his  method  of  illustrating  truth. 
He  is  often  like  Luther,  coarse  as  well  as  strong,  and  had 
something  of  the  monkish  trait  of  saying  ludicrous  things 
and  telling  droll  stories.  It  was  Latimer  who  preached 
the  sermon  on  "  The  Devil  Driving  and  Drowning  his 
Hogs."  (l.)  The  devil  will  play  at  small  game  rather 
than  none  at  all.  (2.)  They  run  fast  whom  the  devil 
drives.  (3.)  The  devil  brings  his  hogs  to  a  fine  market. 
But  this  should  not  give  a  false  impression.  He  was  a 
great,  eloquent,  earnest,  faithful  preacher  of  God's  word, 
and  a  holy  confessor  and  martyr. 

The  later  preaching  of  the  Reformation,  both  in  Ger- 
many and   England,  did  not  deal  so  much  in  subjective 
views   of   truth    as    in    its    plain    objective 

_  aspects  ;  but  the  mind,  freed   from   its  fet- 

Reformed  ^ 

preachin?      ^^^^'   stood    erect    again,    and     transmitted 

the  message  of  God    with  apostolic    power 

and    boldness.     This,   also,  was  the  period,  or  the  later 

portion    of   the   period,  of   the  revival    of   letters  ;    and 

though  feebly  at   first,  yet  with  increasing  strength,  the 

influence  of  the  renewed  study  of  the  classic 
The  age  of 

French  and    ^o^*^^^  '^'^'^  ^^"^  upon  Christian  eloquence, 

German      and  entered  more  and  more  into  the  struc- 

illuminism,    ture  and  style  of   preaching.     The   sermon 

in  the        soon  began  to  lose  somewhat  of  its  biblical 

^    .         life  and  evangelic  element,  until,  much  later, 
centuries.  ° 

in  the  age  of  German  and  French  illuminism, 
in  the  scvcntecntJi  and  cightccntJi  centuries,  it  had  become 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING  153 

nothing  better  than  poHshed  pueriHty,  when  preachers 
preached  upon  agriculture,  the  raising  of  tobacco,  and 
the  Copernican  system.  The  French  in  particular  fos- 
tered this  classic  barrenness  and  varnished  impiety.  The 
English  pulpit  was  saved  from  this  curse,  in  a  great 
measure,  by  the  early  infusion  into  it  of  the  Puritan 
element,  when  such  profound  and  earnest  preachers  as 
Howe,  Baxter,  Flavel,  and  Owen  arose. 

Sec.    io.  Preaching  in  differ  C7it  lands  since  the  Re  forma- 
tion. 

Owing  to  the  liberalizing  influence  of  the  Reformation, 

there  came  to  be  a  more  spontaneous  view  of  divine 

truth   among    the   people  ;     and    there    was     Character 

also  a  development   of  the    original  genius  of  preaching 

of    each     nation     in    religious    things    and     *"  different 
,  ,  ,  ,  , .  countries 

thought  ;    so    that    each    reformed    nation 

became,   at   length,    intellectually  and   spir-  Reformation 
itually  represented  by  its  own  peculiar  style         how 
of  preaching.     In  Germany,    France,    Eng-    influenced, 
land,  Scotland,   and  afterward  in  America,  the  bent   of 
the  national  mind  or  genius  acted  powerfully  on  the  form 
of  preaching  in  these  several  countries,  and  this  also  re- 
acted on  the  political,  intellectual,  and   social  character 
of  the  type  of  civilization  of  these  several  countries. 

We  close  this  sketch  of  the  history  of  preaching  with 
a  notice  of  the  preaching  of  some  of  the   leading  Chris- 
tian   nations    since    the    Reformation  ;    and  preachine  of 
without  speaking  of  the  pulpits  of  Holland,       Holland, 
Italy,    Spain,   and   Russia,   of   which    much  Italy,  Spain, 
might  be  profitably  said — when  we  have  such       Russia, 
names  as  Carlo  Borromeo  of  Italy,  Constant  de  la  Fuerte 
of  Spain,  Simeon  Polotrki  of  the  Greek  Church,  Van  der 


/ 


154  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

Palm  of  Holland,  and  many  others — we  will  say  a  few 
words  of  the  more  distinctively  reformed  countries,  Ger- 
many, England,  and  America  ;  and  also  of  France,  which 
was  but  partially  reformed  at  last,  and  sank  back  into 
the  power  of  the  Roman  Church. 

The  German  pulpit  has  always  retained  something  of 
the  freedom,  fire,  and    naturalness  of    the   Reformation 
period,  and  it  might  be  said  of  the  style  of 
The  German  Ly^j-^gj.^    ^^o    stamped   his   influence  upon 
German      preaching,     being     characterized 
by   its   lively   exposition    of  the  Scriptures   and  ethical 
quality,  accompanied    with    hortatory    earnestness    and 
emotional    glow.      More    attention,    indeed,    has    been 
paid  in   Germany   than   in  any  other    country  to    pure- 
ly   homiletical    studies.       There    are  more 

erman       ^yorks   in  this    language    on  "  Homiletics" 
works  on  r  ,    .  ,  -r- 

Homiletics    ^"^'^  there  are  found  m  any  other.     From 

all  of  Luther's  works  Conrad  Porta,  in  1586, 
gathered  together  what  the  great  reformer  had  more 
especially  said  upon  the  subject  of  preaching  and  of 
ministerial  duties,  in  a  work  entitled  *'  Pastorale  Lu- 
theri."  Melanchthon  also  wrote  a  work  which  had  great 
reputation  among  the  reformed  churches,  styled  "  De 
Officiis  Concionatoris,"  of  which  one  part  is  especially 
devoted  to  the  Formula  de  arte  concionandi,  in  which 
he  sets  forth  the  principles  of  classic  eloquence  in  the 
form  and  composition  of  the  sacred  oration,  with,  how- 
ever, some  particular  reference  to  the  more  practical 
needs  of  ecclesiastical  and  religious  instruction.  There 
are  many  other  German  works  upon  homiletics,  dating 
back  to  the  sixteenth  century  ;  among  which,  perhaps, 
Erasmus'  "  Ecclesiastes"  (of  which  mention  has  been 
already  made)  might  be  reckoned.  After  the  falling 
away  from  the  faith  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth 


HISTOKV  Of  PREACIirXG.  155 

century  and  the  dying  out  of  the  evangelic  spirit  of  the 
pulpit,   Spener  (1635-1705)  and   the  pietistic  preachers, 
so-called,  although  they  were  somewhat  narrow  in  their 
views  respecting  sound  learning  in  the  pul- 
pit, revived  its  life  and   power    for  a  while.  minen 

Drc&chcrs 
Spener  labored  to  abolish  the  formal  Peri- 

kopen  system  of  sermonizing  and  to  introduce  "  free 
texts."  He  was  distinguished  for  his  plain,  strong, 
and  clear  exposition  of  the  Scriptures,  and  his  warm 
devotional  spirit.  Following  Spener  in  the  simplicity 
of  the  gospel  and  in  spirituality  were  Francke,  an  ani- 
mated and  almost  vehement  preacher  ;  Anastasius  Frey- 
linghauser,  more  thoughtful  and  logical ;  Joachim  Lange, 
and  others,  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
After  the  period  of  these  pietistic  divines  came  the  chill- 
ing reign  of  the  philosophical  school,  influenced  greatly 
by  the  Wolffian  rationalistic  exegesis.  In  fact  the  Bible 
was  little  explained  or  referred  to,  though  there  were  ex- 
ceptionally scriptural  preachers,  even  at  this  period. 
But  a  dry  morality,  professing  to  free  the  mind  from  its 
bondage  by  philosophy,  prevailed.  In  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  Johann  Lorenz  von  IVIosheim  (1694- 
1755)  furnished  the  most  eminent  example  of  classic,  able, 
well-methodized  preaching  that  was  still  inspired  by  the 
truth  and  spirit  of  the  gospel.  He  also  wrote  the  "  His- 
tory of  Christian  Homiletics. "  Then  appeared  such  dis- 
tinguished pulpit  orators  as  Cramer,  Herder,  ZollikofTer, 
Bretschneider,  and  Reinhard,  the  court  preacher  at  Dres- 
den, who  wrote  much  and  ably  upon  the  art  of  preach- 
ing ;  until  w^e  draw  nearer  the  present  day,  and  we  have 
the  illustrious  names  of  Krummacher,  Drasckc  (whom 
Hagenbach  reckoned  among  the  first  pulpit  orators  of 
Germany),  Claus  Harms  (warm  and  pathetic,  and  some- 
what   humoristic),    Schleiermacher,    Nitzsch,    Heubner, 


U-- 


156  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

Hagenbach,  Julius  Muller,  Hofacker,  Rudolph  Stier, 
Beck,  Theremin,  Schweitzer,  and  Tholuck. 

The  German   mind,  from   the  earlier  times  until  now, 

with  all  its  intellectual  ponderousnessand  thoroughness,  is 

distinguished  by  its  power  of  sympathy,  by 

Character-    ^  ^j^.]^  ^\^y  of  ^j^e  sensibilities  ;  and  this  is 

!!  **^^  shown  in  a  marked  manner  in  German  preach- 

German 
preaching.  ing»  i^i  which  the  morally  genial  and  thor- 
oughly humanistic  element  is  prominent. 
Herder,  for  example,  though  the  peer  of  the  great  liter- 
ary men  of  his  times,  and  the  theological  father  of  such 
men  as  Hase,  Bunsen,  Rothe,  manifested  this.  If  he  had 
had  more  of  the  strictly  evangelic  element  he  would  have 
been  still  more  effective.  The  German  pulpit  is  not  so 
polished,  oratorically,  as  the  French  pulpit,  but  its  style 
is  more  homely  and  hearty,  and  has  more  of  fresh,  robust 
thought.  The  German  sermon,  as  a  general  rule,  is  freely 
expository  rather  than  severely  didactic,  although  there 
are  exceptions,  as  in  the  case  of  Reinhard  ;  indeed,  some 
writers  have  accused  it  of  wanting  body  or  theological 
substance.  It  gives  free  play  to  aesthetic  and  poetic  sen- 
timent, sometimes  causing  the  stern  old  Protestant  ca- 
thedral fairly  to  blossom  as  with  spring  flowers.  In  its 
plan  it  is  simpler  than  the  Puritan  discourse,  making,  in 
fact,  but  two  grand  elements  to  the  sermon — the  text 
and  the  disposition.  But  in  the  pulpit  discourses  of  a 
preacher  like  Julius  Muller  there  is  a  predominance  of 
the  theological  and  dialectic  element  ;  and  in  Schleier- 
macher  there  is  more  of  the  German  subjectivity  than  is 
usual  ;  but  even  in  his  most  philosophical  preaching 
Schleiermacher  sought  by  his  own  spiritual  sympathy  to 
develop  the  Christian  consciousness  in  his  hearers,  and 
to  bring  them  into  inner  accord  with  Christ.  He  sought 
for  the  spirit  of  things,  and  cared  not  so  much,  perhaps 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  157 

not  enough,  for  dogmatic  expression.     As  the  greatest 

modern  preacher  of  Germany  we  would  endeavor  rapidly 

to  delineate  him,  and  also,  as  a  complement  of  him  and 

existing  because  of  him — though  intellectually  inferior — 

the  late  Dr.  Tholuck.     In  regard   to  the  outward  facts 

and  circumstances  of  these  lives  we  draw  them   directly 

from  German  sources. 

Friedrich  Ernst  Daniel  Schleiermacher,  born  at  Bres- 

lau  in  1768,  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman  of  the  Reformed 

Church,  a  man  of   stern  piety,  who  reared    him  in  the 

precepts    of    the    straitest    orthodox    sect. 

He  was  early  sent  to  the  Moravian  inst'tu-         ^   f* ^'^' 

macher. 
tion  at  Niesky.      Here  by  the  narrowness  of 

the  religious  tenets  inculcated  he  was  driven  into  doubt, 
and  into  a  most  harrowing  controversy  with  his  father 
upon  the  subject  of  his  Christian  faith,  although  the 
affectionate  and  earnest  type  of  religion  exhibited  by  the 
Moravian  brotherhood  made  a  healthful  and  lasting  im- 
pression upon  his  mind.  In  1787  he  went  as  a  student 
to  Halle,  and  at  the  end  of  his  academic  course  acted  for 
a  while  as  lecturer  in  that  university.  Having  recovered 
in  a  measure  his  faith,  he  became  assistant  preacher  at 
Langsberg-on-the-Warthe,  and  after  two  years  removed 
to  Berlin.  Here  he  formed  the  friendship  of  Friedrich 
Schlegel,  Scharnhorst,  Alexander  Dohna,  Wilhelm  von 
Humboldt,  and  other  leading  minds.  He  now  preached 
constantly,  and  his  discourses  upon  religion  {Reden  iibcr 
die  Religion),  and  Monologues  {Monologen),  by  their  ex- 
traordinary philosophic  and  spiritual  depth  brought  him 
into  notice.  Appointed  regular  preacher  in  Berlin  he 
published  other  discourses  of  a  profound  character,  and 
also  his  translation  of  Plato's  works  wnth  a  commentary, 
so  that  from  his  Platonic  studies  and  the  idealistic  cast 
of  his  philosophy,  he  has  been  called  "  the  Plato  of  Ger- 


15S  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

many."  In  1804  he  was  named  University  Preacher  and 
Professor  of  Theology  and  Philosophy  at  Halle.  During 
the  period  of  the  "  War  of  the  Liberation,"  being  broken 
up  at  Halle,  he  returned  to  Berlin  and  became  the  centre 
of  patriotic  influence  in  those  troubled  times  when  all 
seemed  failing  and  falling  ;  so  that  a  German  writer  says 
of  him,  "  That  small,  insignificant-looking  man  became 
the  soul  of  the  warlike  activity  of  Berlin."  His  eloquent 
"Christmas  Festival  discourse"  {Die  WeiJinachtsfeier), 
breathing  the  soul  of  a  thorough  German  patriotism 
which  sprang  from  a  deep-grounded  Protestant  faith, 
roused  Germany  like  Luther's  discourses  to  the  German 
people  of  old.  It  was  the  speech  of  a  man  who,  suffering 
intensely  with  all  the  woes  of  his  fatherland,  could  be- 
come her  counsellor  and  mouthpiece.  In  1809  he  was 
appointed  pastor  of  Trinity  Church,  Berlin  ;  and,  soon 
after,  in  harmony  with  his  own  efforts  and  views,  the 
University  of  Berlin  was  re-instituted,  of  which  he  be- 
came the  most  renowned  light.  His  last  great  work  was 
"  The  Christian  Faith  systematically  presented  according 
to  the  Fundamental  Propositions  of  the  Evangelical 
Church"  {Der  Christ  lie  he  Glmibe  nacJi  den  Griindsaetzen 
der  Evan.  KircJie  in  ZnsamvicnJiange  dargestellt). 

Six  series  of  his  sermons  {Predigten)  have  been  pub- 
lished, the  first  in  1801,  and  the  last  in  1833.  He  died 
at  Berlin,  Februar}^,  1834. 

Schleiermacher's  style  as  a  preacher  was  without  much 
.ornament,  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  had  a  classic  finish. 
Style  and     ^"  onward  movement,  and  an  original  and 
'  characteris-  vigorous  thought  that  held  his  hearers  spell- 
tics  as  a      bound.     He  was  a  man  who    brought  into 
preacher,      j^jg  preaching  the  results  of  great  erudition 
and  profound  thinking,  and  yet  he  strove  to  distinguish 
the  true  elements  of  Christian  faith  from  the  doermatic 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  159 

forms  which  had  grown  up  around  it  and  obscured  Its  life. 
He  sought  for  the  springs  of  Christian  faith  in  the  real 
union  of  the  soul  with  God.  In  this  God-conscious- 
ness {Gott-Bczviisstseiii)  he  placed  the  source  of  religion. 
Christ  revealed  the  true  God-consciousness.  He  knew 
of  no  Christianity  that  was  without  Christ  ;  and  even  as 
his  own  pure  life  welled  forth  from  that  fountain  of  in- 
nermost personal  union  with  the  personal  Christ,  so  he 
thought  that  the  life  of  all  believers,  and  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  should  and  could  only  spring  from  the  same 
source. 

Schleiermacher  has  wrought  a  profoundly  shaping  in- 
fluence upon  the  new  and  more  truly  evangelical  views 
which  have  sprung  up  in  Germany  regarding  the  imme- 
diate relation  of  Christian  faith  to  Christian  life.  Such 
writers  and  preachers  as,  first  of  all,  Neander,  after  him, 
Twesten,  Nitzsch,  Jul.  Miiller,  Dorner,  Martensen,  Liicke, 
Tholuck  ;  and  those  of  other  lands,  like  Vinet,  Archdeacon 
Hare,  Maurice,  F.  W.  Robertson,  and  Horace  Bushnell, 
have  drunk  deeply,  if  sometimes  unconsciously,  into  the 
thinking  and  theology  of  Schleiermacher.  His  was  a 
large  and  hospitable  theology  that  brought  into  it  all 
there  was  revealed  of  God  in  the  human  mind,  in  nature, 
in  science,  in  art,  in  literature,  in  the  State  and.  the 
household.  Schleiermacher  fairly  turned  the  tide  of 
rationalism  in  Germany.  He  discovered  in  his  own  con- 
sciousness of  humanity  the  need  of  the  soul  to  be  perfect, 
and  that  this  want  could  not  possibly  be  met  in  the 
human  soul  itself  by  reason  of  its  moral  imperfection, 
and  this  was  the  death-blow  of  rationalism.  He  also 
discovered  the  truth  that  in  Jesus  there  was  a  perfect  and 
holy  humanity  upon  which  to  rest  this  mediatorship  be- 
tween the  sinful  soul  and  a  holy  God.  He  was  firm  amid 
the  confusing  voices  of  his  doubting  age  in  his  faith  of 


i6o  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

the  unassailable  holiness  of  the  human  nature  of  Christ. 
If  temptation  had  but  one  slightest  point  of  contact 
whereby  to  assail  the  character  of  the  Saviour,  he  would 
have  been  no  longer  the  Saviour  of  humanity.  Yet  it 
must  be  admitted  tliat  Schleiermacher  built  his  theology 
too  exclusively  upon  consciousness,  upon  this  purely  sub- 
jective basis,  and  that  there  was  not  enough  in  it  of  the 
positive  element  of  revealed  truth  to  make  it  a  firmly 
reliable  system  for  other  men  ;  yet  he  probably  did  more 
than  any  other  man  to  reconcile  philosophy  and  faith, 
and  to  show  that  the  objective  truth  of  Christianity  har- 
monized with  the  absolute  needs  of  the  soul.  His  the- 
ology went  far  to  meet  the  deepest  questions  of  man's 
own  nature. 

It  is  here,  as  a  preacher,  that  he  is  worthy  of  profound 
study.  Preaching  is  not  only  a  means  whereby  to  illu- 
mine the  mind  by  divine  truth,  but  to  vitalize  the  soul 
by  the  touch  of  the  divine  spirit.  It  must  penetrate 
deeper  than  the  reasoning  faculty  to  the  springs  of  motive 
and  life.  It  may  be  great  as  a  didactic  performance,  and 
may  leave  the  mind  thrilling  like  a  harp  over  which  a 
master-hand  has  swept,  but  the  vibrations  die  away  in 
silence  and  apathy.  The  soul  still  sleeps  the  sleep  of 
death.  The  preacher  must  come  nearer  than  by  the  hand 
of  power,  and  must  open  the  fountains  of  long  sealed-up 
affections.  This  constitutes  pulpit  genius.  There  are 
hundreds  of  intellectual  discourses  to  one  that  is  truly 
spiritual.  One  hears  sermons  that  reverberate  like  thun- 
der-peals through  the  vestibule  of  the  mind,  but  do  not 
speak  to  the  inner  man  of  the  heart  with  the  renewing 
voice  of  Christ.  They  do  not  speak  with  the  sweet  pene- 
trative power  of  the  Gospels.  It  is  not  given  to  all 
preachers  to  touch  the  heart.  Not  all  are  successors  of 
the  apostles  in  spiritual  gifts.     Hence  they  are   almost 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  l6i 

powerless  for  good.  Though  they  have  other  gifts  of 
power,  the  vital  thing  is  wanting.  It  would  be  hard  to 
say  of  such  men  (what  often  might  be  said  of  the  best  of 
us)  that  they  do  not  feel  what  they  s»ay,  or  that  they 
have  no  feeling,  but  somehow  that  gift  has  been  denied 
them,  and  the  golden  key  to  hearts  is  not  theirs.  They 
are  rhetoricians  and  logicians.  The  subtle  instinct  of 
love  which  the  most  hardened  soul  instantly  perceives, 
and  which  inspires  what  is  said  with  the  pathos  of  sym- 
pathy, and  enters  the  secret  parts  of  the  soul  with  a  com- 
pelling force  like  a  message  of  heaven,  and  raises  the 
dead  to  life,  is  a  precious  gift  in  a  preacher  ;  and  theo- 
logical seminaries  have  a  responsibility  in  this,  that  while 
they  train  men  as  exegetes,  theologians,  and  writers,  they 
do  not  destroy  in  the  preachers  they  send  forth  the 
power  of  feeling  the  truth  they  utter,  the  power  of  lov- 
ing men,  the  power  of  simple  unconscious  sympathy,  and  "K 
"  freeze  the  genial  currents  of  the  soul."  Churches,  too, 
have  a  responsibility  not  to  select  men  to  fill  their  pul- 
pits solely  for  their  disciplined  powers  of  intellect  (none 
could  rate  the  importance  of  these  higher  than  we  do), 
but  also  and  perhaps  mainly  for  their  power  with  human 
hearts,  their  genius  of  sympathy,  of  Christlike  persua- 
siveness, of  true  spirituality.  If  an  individual  preacher 
do  not  possess  these  qualities,  it  should  be  with  him  a 
matter  of  the  most  earnest  striving — a  matter  of  life  and 
death — by  prayer,  by  charitable  activity  among  men,  by 
humiliation  and  imitation  of  Christ,  by  pressing  into 
closer  and  closer  union  with  the  spirit  of  the  loving  and 
crucified  Lord,  to  win  this  divine  sympathy,  this  love, 
or  charity,  which  the  apostle  declares  is  the  great  end  as 
well  as  means  of  Christian  working,  struggling,  preach- 
ing, and  living.  Christianity,  as  Coleridge  says,  consi.sts 
not  only  of  ideas  but  of  facts  ;  and  as  ideas  are  the  cor- 


l62  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

relatives  of  doctrines,  so  facts  are  the  correspondents  of 
feelings.  If  God  first  loved  me  I  should  love  him  first 
of  all.  If  Christ,  from  love,  died  for  me,  this  should 
awaken  in  me  a  Itvely  sympathy  for  every  sinful  human 
heart  upon  which  the  gracious  power  of  Christ  can  work. 
The  unity  of  man,  not  only  from  nature,  but  from  Christ's 
human  nature,  was  a  prime  principle  in  Schleiermacher's 
creed.  All  the  nature,  too — the  intellect,  will,  and  affec- 
tions— were  comprehended  in  his  conception  of  theology 
and  preaching.  The  whole  man  was  to  be  regenerated, 
but  the  spiritual  man — the  man  of  the  heart — was  the 
man  whom,  above  all,  he  addressed  ;  for  therein  consisted 
the  reality  of  the  gospel  as  addressing  itself  to  that  part 
of  the  nature  in  which  was  contained  its  essential  unity. 
The  gospel  which  he  preached  was  a  spiritual  gospel 
which  penetrated  to  the  secret  faith,  or  real  love,  of  the 
heart,  and  purified  the  inner  sources  of  action  and  char- 
acter. He  laid  special  stress  upon  the  spirit  of  the  Chris- 
tian believer,  the  new  regenerate  affection  which  goes 
underneath  acts,  and  is  the  product  of  a  genuine  union 
with  Christ,  and  which  is  seen  in  the  warm,  pure,  inner 
life  of  the  soul  that  makes  it  one  with  Christ's  life,  and 
with  that  of  all  other  believers.  While  a  great  intellect, 
while  purely  rationalistic  in  some  of  his  views,  he  placed 
the  hidden  source  of  religion  in  the  spiritual  affection 
more  than  in  the  scientific  apprehension. 

Another  striking  feature  of  Schleiermacher's  preaching 
was  the  spirit  of  union,  of  true  brotherhood  in  Christ 
which  he  cherished.  He  sought  ever  to  find  and  develop 
in  the  congregation  this  sense  of  brotherhood,  of  union  in 
Christ  through  faith  in  him  as  the  Head.  The  Church 
was  the  sphere  where  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  the  Spirit  of 
Christ,  enabled  this  consciousness  of  God,  and  life  in 
him,  to  be   manifested  freely.      He    had   a  most    earnest 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  1 63 

longing  toward  union  and  common  love  among  believers  ; 

that  there  might  be  even  no  marked  distinction  made,  as 

in  the  past,  between  preacher  and  people,  but  that  they 

all  might  be  brought   into  the  communion  of  the  same 

spirit  and  life.      He  called  the  true  preacher  "  the  mouth 

of  the  congregation."     He  would  have  the  teaching  and 

authoritative  idea  of  the  preacher  to  be  lost  sight  of  in 

the  higher  idea  of  his  being  the  instrument  to  express 

the  will,  the  thought,  the  spirit,  and  the  love  of  the  whole 

body  of  the  people  and  Church  of  Christ. 

Schlciermacher  was  a  philosopher  ;  and  the  influence  of 

his  philosophical  studies,  as  well  as  of  his  comprehensive 

philological  and  classical  culture,  was  seen  in 

his  sermons  ;  but  he  warned  his  pupils  and     i^in^r^ncs 

between 
hearers  of  the  difference  between  knowledge      f   th  a  d 

and  faith,  and  that  the  mathematical  could  dogma, 
not  be  mixed  with  the  religious  reason. 
His  faith  did  not  dwell  in  the  dry  region  of  human  sci- 
ence {yvcaaii),  but  it  sought  something  more  vital  and 
profound  in  the  inward  teachings  of  the  Word  and  Spirit 
of  Christ  {niarii).  He  opened  his  heart  freely  to  these. 
He  abode  in  the  love  of  Christ  as  well  as  in  the  love  of 
human  Christian  friends.  All  the  impulses  of  his  being 
sought  for  sympathy,  and  his  religious  life  would  soon 
have  perished  in  the  exclusive  pursuit  of  the  technical 
science  of  speculative  theology  ;  it  strove  after  a  more 
permanent  nourishment  in  the  moral  and  spiritual  affec- 
tions brought  in  union  with  Christ,  the  Lord  of  life.  He 
was  indeed  almost  the  first  Christian  theologian  who  de- 
veloped the  ethical  side  of  Christianity  in  its  harmonious 
breadth  and  freeness  ;  and,  after  all,  amid  the  scientific, 
materialistic,  and  pessimistic  doubts  through  which  the 
struggling  Christianity  of  the  present  day  is  called  to 
pass,  and  in  which  the  faith  of  many  grows  faint  and  is 


1 64  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

almost  ready  to  vanish  away,  is  there  not  an  immovable 
standing-ground  in  the  ethical  and  spiritual  position  upon 
which  Schleiermacher's  theology  based  itself? 

His  sermons  thus,  though  intensely  subjective  in  their 
currents,  were  not  mere  expressiorks  of  thought,  and  as- 
suredly not  mere  bookish  and  literary  dis- 
Form  of      courses,  but  were   full   of  the   warm    life  of 

the  soul.     They  were  poured  forth  from  the 
ii  extempore  -^  ^ 

preacher,  depths  of  a  great,  loving,  religious  nature. 
They  were  rarely  written  out  beforehand, 
but  though  carefully  thought  through  and  methodized, 
being  synthetic  and  thematic  in  form,  they  were  extem- 
poraneously delivered.  Schleiermacher  was  an  extem- 
poraneous preacher.  His  thoughts  did  not  freeze  into 
ice-cakes  as  if  to  be  weighed  and  delivered  from  a  vehicle, 
like  those  of  many  preachers  who  adopt  the  written 
method,  but  they  had  the  direct  and  spontaneous  flow  of 
fresh  currents  of  thought  and  feeling.  We  would  not 
lose  the  opportunity  to  enforce  by  the  example  of  a  great 
preacher,  this  needed  reform  in  our  modern  pulpit, 
whereby  it  may  be  made  equal  in  popular  power  to  the 
bar  and  the  platform.  Never  will  it  attain  its  highest 
influence  with  the  great  masses  of  the  people  until  it  is 
emancipated  from  the  tyranny  of  the  written  method, 
and  men  who  have  a  living  message  from  God  can  deliver 
it  like  God's  prophets  freshly  and  freely  to  the  hearts  of 
living  men.  But  Schleiermacher  did  not  trust  to  the 
moment  for  his  real  thinking,  or  even  his  ordering  of  the 
discourse,  but  he  said  in  his  counsels  on  this  point  : 
"  Before  going  into  the  pulpit,  the  sermon  as  a  whole — 
that  is,  the  separate  thoughts  in  their  relations  to  all  the 
members  and  the  whole — should  be  clearly  in  the  mind. "  ' 


*  Hagenbach's  "  Horn,  and  Lit.,"  p.  137. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  1 65 

Hence  his  discourses  united  in  a  wonderful  degree  the 
clearest  thinking  with  the  freest  and  most  vital  form  of 
expression.  Having  seized  the  idea  in  its  fullest  concep- 
tion, nothing  of  its  luminous  beauty  and  completeness 
was  lost  in  giving  it  outward  shape  and  language.  He 
illustrated  in  a  striking  manner  Quintilian's  conception  of 
extemporaneous  oratory  :  "  Extcuiporalis  oratio  ncc  alio 
viiJii  vidctur  mentis  vigore  constare. 

While  Schleiermacher  lived  in  the  pure  ideas  of  beauty 
and  truth,  and  possessed  to  an  exquisite  degree  the  feel- 

insf  of  whatever  was  true,  good,  and  beauti- 

.  As  a 

ful,  he  had  a  most  comprehensive  and  virile    theologian. 

intellect  that  sought  for  the  moral  elevation 
of  his  hearers,  for  the  greatest  good  of  men  and  the 
State,  and  for  the  eternal  interests  of  the  human  race.  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  he  leaned  strongly  to  the  philoso- 
phy of  Spinoza,  or,  more  correctly,  of  Schelling — the 
philosophy  of  the  absolute  ;  though  to  call  Schleier- 
macher a  pantheist  is  as  false  as  to  say  that  such  expres- 
sions as  "  For  me  to  live  is  Christ,"  "Yet  not  I  but 
Christ  who  liveth  in  me,"  would  prove  that  the  apostle 
Paul  was  a  pantheist  ;  but  it  is  patent  that  on  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Trinity  and  the  Atonement,  he  has  given 
speculative  explanations  which  differ  widely  from  current 
orthodoxy.  One  writer  states  his  position  in  a  few  dis- 
criminating words  :  "  Schleiermacher  knew  the  experi- 
ences of  the  religious  life  of  the  Christian,  and  he  felt  a 
powerful  reality  in  them.  In  many  of  his  speculations  he 
coincided  with  Fichte,  but  feeling  with  him  was  a  stronger 
reality  than  speculation.  He  believed  that  philosophy 
is  yet  far  from  attaining  its  true  end  ;  and  he  drew  him- 
self back  from  it,  and  retired  into  the  province  of  Chris- 
tian experience.  This  experience  he  vindicated  in  his 
systematic   theology  with  the  aid   of   a  fine-drawn    and 


1 66  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

eloquent  system  of  dialectics.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
rationalistic  tendencies  of  the  day  in  which  Schleier- 
macher  commenced  his  labors,  the  style  of  criticism 
that  then  prevailed,  his  own  philosophical  studies  also, 
particularly  his  study  of  Spinoza,  undermined  his  faith  in 
many  points  of  the  orthodoxy  that  has  ever  been  preva- 
lent in  the  Church.  Hence  it  is  that  he  defended  the 
great  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  at  the  same  time 
abandoned  many  portions  of  truth,  many  parts  especially 
of  the  historical  revelation."  For  these  reasons  doubt- 
less he  is  to  be  studied  with  caution.  He  was  a  great 
freethinker  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term.  But  he  is  not 
to  be  judged  rashly.  In  some  respects  he  was  more 
evangelical  than  many  in  his  time,  and  many  now,  who 
claim  to  be  orthodox  ;  for  he  preserved  the  essential 
thing — the  life  and  spirit  of  Christianity.  The  centre  of 
his  system  is  Christ  ;  is  the  gospel  ;  is  the  redemption 
wrought  by  the  life,  death,  and  Spirit  of  the  Son  of  God  ; 
and  he,  probably  more  than  any  other  one  mind,  has 
brought  back  modern  theology  from  the  rationalistic  to 
>-'  the  Christian  standpoint,  and  held  it  there  firmly,  and 
more  and  more  \v\\\  continue  to  hold  it  there.  He,  like 
our  own  Bushnell — though  they  could  not  otherwise  be 
compared — had  great  penetrating  thoughts  of  God,  which 
still  are  influencing  men  and  all  Christian  thought  and 
life.  He  cannot,  any  more  than  Bushnell,  be  put  into  a 
theological  school-closet.  He  not  only  regarded  himself 
as  being  in  God,  but  as  God  being  in  him,  working  in 
him,  loving  him,  being  joined  to  him  in  Christ,  and 
moulding  him  spiritually  into  the  perfection  of  Christ, 
who  was  human  as  well  as  divine.  The  amazing  and  all- 
comprehending  truth  of  the  Incarnation — of  divine  life 
brought  into  humanity,  and,  above  all,  into  the  purified 
soul  of  the  believer  through  the  Son  of  man — was  the 
main  truth  with  him. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHIXG.  167 

We  are  just  beginning  to  feel  the  strong  tides  of  his 
influence  in  this  country,  and  our  Puritan  theology  is 
destined  to  be  modified  by  him  much  more  than  it  has 
yet  been.  He  was,  in  his  day,  as  he  said  in  noble  con- 
sciousness of  himself,"  "  the  organ,  the  mouthpiece  of 
many  loving  and  profound  Christian  natures,  the  turning- 
point  of  the  thoughts  and  feelings,  the  joys  and  sorrows, 
the  doubts  and  hopes  of  many  noble  and  pure  souls  ;" 
and  this  office  he  still  in  some  sense  fulfils,  and  in  an 
ever-widening  power.  Thus  he  moved  men,  his  country, 
and  his  age.  It  has  been  said  of  him,  that  as  the  Ger- 
man poet  Arndt  sought  to  awaken  the  German  sentiment 
of  nationality  in  a  depressed  and  downtrodden  land,  and 
as  Fichte  sought  to  erect  again  the  German  reason,  so 
Schleiermacher  spoke  to  the  German  religious  life — to 
the  deepest  soul  of  the  German  people — to  their  concep-  ^ 
tion  of  and  hold  upon  God"  and  divine  things.  As  he  was 
a  prophet  to  the  people  in  the  time  of  their  greatest  sor- 
row, need,  and  fear,  so  should  every  true  preacher  of 
Christ  be,  and  may  be,  because  the  love  wherewith  Christ 
loves  him  is  in  him,  because  he  has  that  divine  sympathy 
which  is  ever  ready  to  console  and  to  suffer  with  men. 

We  have  dwelt  so  long  upon  Schleiermacher  that  we 
have  but  few  words  for  Tholuck,  who  was,  nevertheless, 
as  a  preacher,  in  some  respects,  a  better  or  more  prac- 
ticable model  than  Schleiermacher. 

Friedrich  August   Gottreu   Tholuck  was   born    March 

30th,  1799,  in  Breslau,  the  birthplace  of  Schleiermacher. 

He   was   the    son    of   a   goldsmith,  and  was 

°  Tholuck. 

destined  to  be  himself  a  goldsmith,  but  his 
brightness  and  love  of  knowledge  caused  him  to  be  sent 
from  the  gymnasium  of  his  native  place  to  Berlin  to  study 
the  Oriental  languages,  and  through  his  enthusiasm   for 
these  studies  he  is  said  at  that  time  to  have  been  as  much 


1 68  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

a  Mohammedan  as  a  Christian.  He  made  great  profi- 
ciency in  linguistic  pursuits,  and  became  also  at  this  time 
an  ardent  believer  ;  so  that  from  his  promise  as  a  scholar 
and  his  earnestness  as  a  Christian  he  began  to  be  regard- 
ed by  the  leaders  of  the  evangelical  party  at  Berlin,  such 
as  Neander  and  Hengstenberg,  as  an  important  ally  to 
their  cause  ;  and  he  was  appointed  Extraordinary  Pro- 
fessor of  Theology  at  Berlin  University.  He  wrote  a 
^  reply  to  DeWette  on  a  subject  connected  with  the 
dominant  scepticism  then  in  Germany,  and  was  trans- 
ferred to  Halle,  where,  in  1826,  he  was  named  Ordinary 
Professor  of  Theolog>%  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  com- 
bating the  Leibnitz-Wolfifian  form  of  rationalism  then 
and  there  prevailing,  whose  leaders  were  Wegscheider 
and  Gesenius.  For  fifty  years  he  sustained  an  active 
conflict  in  support  of  evangelical  views,  and  lived  to  see 
a  great  change  wrought  in  the  religious  opinion  both  of 
his  own  university  and  of  all  Germany.  He  was  a  fer- 
tile writer  on  theological  subjects,  though  not  taking  the 
first  rank  as  a  scholar.  One  critic  says  of  him  :  "  His 
biblical,  historical,  and  practical  writings  found  a  consid- 
erable circle  of  readers,  for  they  are  distinguished  for 
richness  of  thought,  learning,  and  sensibility.  In  spite  of 
the  numerous  quotations  from  Christian  and  heathen 
authors,  both  old  and  new,  they  indeed  lack  true  thor- 
oughness ;  in  spite  of  their  orthodox  coloring  they  lack 
consistency  ;  in  spite  of  their  keenness  they  lack  clear- 
ness. One  seldom  loses  the  feeling  that  the  author  fails 
to  comprehend  clearly  what  he  means  to  express.  And 
could  this  be  well  otherwise  ?  Theologian  of  compromise 
through  and  through,  at  the  same  time  belonging  to  the 
Romantic  and  sceptical  schools,  Tholuck  had  in  fact  won- 
derful receptivity  for  everything,  but  no  clear,  consistent 
standpoint.     As  a  preacher  in  the  philosophical  mantle 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  169 

of  Schleicrmacher  he  still  could  be  claimed  by  the  vari- 
ous schools  of  theology,  while  he  belonged  in  substance 
to  none  of  thenri  wholly."  Tholuck  died  at  Halle  in  the 
summer  of  1877. 

As  a  preacher,  Tholuck  perhaps  wrought  his  greatest 
influence.  There  was  a  free  and  almost  torrent-flow  of 
emotional  thought  in  his  sermons — of  thought  inspired 
by  an  evangelic  spirit.  He  often  exhibited  an  impas- 
sioned eloquence  which  bore  the  minds  and  hearts  of  his 
hearers  along  with  it.  **  While,"  says  Professor  Park, 
"  he  would  be  called  a  memoriter  preacher,  yet  he  bor- 
rowed so  much  aid  from  the  extemporaneous  method 
that  it  is  not  always  easy  to  classify  him.  He  would  dic- 
tate to  his  amanuensis  a  sermon  on  one  Sabbath  morn- 
ing between  five  and  seven  o'clock  ;  review  the  sermon  at 
the  same  hours  on  the  next  Sabbath  morning,  and  deliver 
it  at  nine  o'clock  on  that  very  morning.  His  tenacious 
memory  grasped  and  held  a  large  part  of  what  he  had 
written,  but  his  sentences  as  they  were  uttered  received 
a  new  wealth  of  beauty  from  his  rich  imagination."  ' 

Although  a  man  of  varied  learning,  Tholuck's  sermons, 
like  other  German  sermons,  are  simple  without  show  of 
erudition,  and  though  not  without  interesting  thought, 
are  mainly  addressed  to  the  heart  rather  than  the  head. 
As  most  of  his  sermons  were  preached  to  university  stu- 
dents, they  are  stamped  with  that  free,  fresh  style  adapt- 
ed to  impress  young  men.  There  is  nothing  drily 
scholastic  in  their  method  or  substance.  They  are  living 
forms  of  thought.  They  are  shot  through  with  feeling 
as  if  caught  from  the  light  of  that  cross  which  he  loved 
to  hold  up  before  the  eyes  of  men,  and  especially  of 
those  who  were  accounted  wise. 


'  "  Bib.  Sac,"  vol.  xxix.  p.  377. 


17°  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

He  also  exhibited  a  sagaciousness,  a  hard,  shrewd 
knowledge  of  human  nature,  which  is  wonderful  in  a  man 
devoted  so  exclusively  to  scholarly  pursuits.  The  main 
traits  of  his  preaching,  we  should  say,  were  individuality, 
boldness  mixed  with  kindness,  dramatic  power  of  the 
imagination,  a  pointed  and  homely  style  of  thought,  and 
a  truly  evangelic  feeling  that  interfused  all,  and  entered 
into  the  core  and  inmost  meaning  of  the  gospel.  There 
are  now  and  then  sentences  in  his  sermons  which  take  us 
into  the  heart  of  spiritual  truth,  and  we  find  ourselves 
making  a  stand  upon  them,  revolving  them  and  incor- 
porating them  into  our  own  thinking,  and  almost  uncon- 
sciously adopting  them  as  principles  to  regulate  our  modes 
of  belief.  Were  it  not  indeed  well  for  us  to  infuse  some- 
thing of  the  spiritual  life,  and  of  the  heart-glow  of  Schleier- 
macher,  Tholuck,  and  the  best  German  preachers  from 
Tauler  and  Luther  down  to  Palmer  of  Tubingen,  Dorner 
of  Berlin,  Kahnis  and  Luthardt  of  Leipsic,  and  a  hundred 
others,  where,  at  the  same  time,  there  is  no  want  of 
vigorous  thinking — into  our  more  cold,  formal,  and 
rationalistic  methods  of  preaching  ?  Yet  we  are  of  the 
opinion  that  we  should  not  wholly  adopt  the  German 
style  of  sermonizing,  and  lose  sight  of  the  best  distinctive 
traits  of  the  New  England  pulpit — its  nobly  thoughtful 
method  and  its  profound  grasp  of  principles. 

The    French  pulpit    is  classic  and  brilliant.     Its   most 

eloquent   Protestant  representative  was  Jacques  Saurin. 

Saurin  was  born   1677,  and  died    1730.      His 

renc     professional  life  was  mostly  spent  in  Holland, 
pulpit—       '■  ^    ^ 

Saurin        ^^   '^^   Hague.     Although   he   adorned  the 

Protestant  pulpit  with  more  of  grace  than  it 
had  before,  he  sincerely  aimed  at  the  great  end  of  preach- 
ing— the  spiritual  welfare  of  men.  He  therefore  stands 
higher  as  an  evangelical  preacher,  though  not  as  an  ora- 


HISTORY  OF  PREACIHXG.  171 

tor,  than  most  of  the  great  Cathoh'c  French  preachers. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  Protestant  preachers  who  intro- 
duced into  the  plain  didactic  method  of  the  Reformed 
pulpit  the  ornaments  of  eloquence.  His  chief  produc- 
tions are  his  sermons.  These  sermons  have  an  elaborate 
method,  and  are  built  on  the  plan  of  a  classic  oration  ; 
indeed,  he  rarely  puts  off  his  oratorical  robes.  His  "'  in- 
troductions" are  often  highly  wrought,  and  he  follows  the 
strictly  logical  or  forensic  method  in  the  development. 
He  concentrates  all  the  elements  of  the  text  in  a  common 
subject  or  proposition,  and  preaches  topically.  His  style 
is  clear,  shining,  energetic,  at  times  almost  harsh,  and 
deficient  in  pathos  and  unction.  He  introduces  his  ideas 
in  a  formal  way  by  the  law  of  progression  rather  than  of 
natural  development.  Sometimes  his  whole  plan  con- 
sists merely  of  a  number  of  remarks  arranged  numeri- 
cally, without  much  regard  to  the  logical  evolution  of 
thought.  His  sermons  are  full  of  eloquent  thoughts. 
There  are  animated  dialogues  introduced — dialogues  be- 
tween the  preacher  and  God,  and  between  the  preacher 
and  his  flock,  so  that  his  pulpit  address  attracted  crowds 
by  its  liveliness  ;  and  his  reputation  was  at  one  time  so 
great  that  a  number  of  imitators  arose,  who  carried  his 
impassioned  style  to  an  extreme.  He  addressed  the  pas- 
sions rather  than  the  will  and  the  affections.  He  delivered 
almost  an  entire  system  of  theology,  or  body  of  divinit}-, 
in  the  course  of  his  preaching  ;  and,  while  undoubtedly 
orthodox,  was  still  more  liberal  than  his  contemporaries 
in  his  theological  views.  Though  he  employed  meta- 
physics, he  did  not  do  so  profoundly,  and  he  did  not 
always  get  at  the  root  of  things  divine.  Although  he 
felt  strongly  what  he  said,  he  was  essentially  a  "  book- 
man" in  his  style,  and  he  painted,  by  a  sort  of  intellectual 
insight,  man  rather  than  men.      He  did  not  so  well  know 


172  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

men.  There  is,  however,  considerable  variety  in  his 
preaching,  and  he  entered  the  field  of  Christian  ethics 
more  boldly  than  his  predecessor  ;  but  he  was,  more  than 
all,  and  in  spite  of  all,  a  true  preacher  of  the  gospel. 
Abbadie,  another  French  preacher  of  celebrity,  on  one 
occasion  said  of  him  :  "  It  is  an  angel  and  not  a  man  who 
speaks."  Nevertheless  Saurin  is  perhaps  a  little  too 
much  of  an  eloquent  declaimer  built  on  the  plan  of  a 
classic  orator,  with  too  abstract  and  polished  a  style  to 
be  the  highest  model  of  a  Christian  preacher,  who  speaks 
the  language  of  common  life,  the  language  of  the  Bible, 
and  of  that  spiritual  truth  that  reaches  both  the  under- 
standing and  the  hearts  of  plain  men.  He  dealt  too 
much  in  the  general,  and  not  enough  in  the  concrete. 
He  could  speak  of  the  avarice  of  Judas  till  he  thrilled  the 
souls  of  his  hearers,  but  it  was  the  effect  of  the  orator 
rather  than  the  preacher.  Still,  as  a  faithful  preacher  of 
evangelical  truth,  he  was,  as  has  been  said,  superior  to 
the  French  Roman  Catholic  orators. 

We  usually  think  of  the  French  pulpit  in  connection 
with  the  brilliant  and  world-famous  names  of  the  great 
Roman  Catholic  preachers  ;  but  there  was  also  a  class  of 
noble  French  contemporaneous  Protestant  preachers  who 
are  too  often  overlooked. 

As   this  is  rather  a  neglected  period  of  French    homi- 

„  ,         .      letical   history,   we    will    speak    more     fully 

preachers      of    these    Reformed    French    preachers    of 

of  the        the  seventeenth   century,   selecting  one   of 

Seventeenth   ^j^g  greatest    of    them    (not    the    most    elo- 

Century.      q^gj^^^  since  Saurin  was  probably  that)  as 

an  illustration.' 


'  What  follows  upon  this  particular  period  is  in  the  main  derived  from 
Vinet's  "  Histoirc  de  la  Piedicalion  de  I'Eglise  Reform6e  de  France." 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  173 

The  greatness  of  Protestantism  is  one  of  the  principal 
features  of  the  greatness  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
This  is  true  even  in  France,  where  Protestantism  was 
proscribed. 

At  a  later  day  this  could  be  forgotten  ;  but  the  con- 
temporary Roman  Catholic  orators,  like  Bossuet  and 
Bourdaloue,  did  not  speak  but  with  respect,  even  if  hos- 
tilely,  of  the  French  Protestant  Church  and  its  ministers. 

There  was  at  this  time  in  the  Protestant  Church  a  num- 
ber of  great  theologians,  great  controversialists,  and  above 
all  great  Christians.     A  part  of  the  strength 

of   Catholicism   itself  in  this  age   must    be 

■n.  •  ^     1     1-   •  historical 

imputed  to  Protestantism.     Catholicism  had  characteristics 

arrived  at  that  point  when  all  Europe  was  of  this  period. 
falling  into  the  abyss  of  impiety  ;  and  the 
Romish  priesthood,  so  far  from  restraining  was  pre- 
cipitating it.  The  Romish  Church,  by  holding  to  its 
traditions  instead  of  preserving  anything,  only  hastened 
its  own  destruction  ;  the  progress  of  light  and  learning 
widened  the  breach  ;  and  had  there  been  no  Luther  and 
Calvin,  the  papacy  would  have  succumbed  under  the 
thrusts  of  such  merciless  foes  as  Rabelais  and  Montaigne. 
The  Reformation  was  the  saving  of  Christianity,  whether  / 
Protestant  or  Catholic. 

The  most  conspicuous  preaching  talents,  it  is  true, 
were  found  among  the  Catholics  ;  but  in  the  main  thei 
Protestant  Church  was  weightier  than  its  rival.  The 
superiority  of  one  age  is  not  in  the  marked  pre-eminence 
of  isolated  individuals,  any  more  than  the  prosperity  of  a 
country  consists  in  the  wealth  of  certain  men.  Catholi- 
cism, notwithstanding  its  great  names,  had  really  fewef 
able  preachers  than  Protestantism.  On  the  whole,  the 
reformed  preaching  of  the  seventeenth  century  in  France 
is  remarkable. 


174  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

But  the  literary  inferiority  of  the  Protestant  ministers 

is  v^ery  evident.      Even  before  they  went  into  exile    they 

had  the   style  of  exiles  ;  and  the  reformed 

inferioritv  Preachers  who  wrote  and  spoke  in  France 
were  wanting  in  a  fine  appreciation  of  their 
own  language.  One  reason  of  this  is  that  they  were 
not  in  such  propitious  circumstances  as  their  rivals  to 
form  their  taste  ;  they  were  not,  as  it  were,  in  the  focus 
of  good  language,  in  the  light  of  the  court.  The  Protest- 
ant Church  was  a  republic  by  itself,  with  its  own  habits, 
tradition,  and  even  language — a  language  grave  and  sim- 
ple, as  was  befitting  a  persecuted  church.  Its  preachers 
followed  the  counsel  of  D'Aubigne  :  "  Let  us  make  our 
style  of  writing  respected."  This  is  better  than  beauty  ; 
but  it  must  be  confessed  that  beauty  was  wanting.  Bos- 
suet  said  of  Calvin,  as  has  already  been  quoted,  "  Son 
style  est  irisie."  He  could  have  said  the  same  of  most 
of  the  reformed  preachers  of  France.  But  Calvin  is  some- 
times eloquent,  and  they  are  not  so  always.  Their 
gravity  is  bare,  stripped  of  all  the  flowers  of  the  imagina- 
tion ;  nothing  in  their  situation,  nothing  in  their  past  or 
their  future  was  calculated  to  enliven  their  style. 

Another  cause  of  their  inferiority  is  that  they  were  un- 
able to  avoid  controversy  and  the  consequent  abuse  of 
the  dogmatic  element.  Men  of  combat,  they  carried  into 
_|  the  pulpit  the  dust  of  the  arena.  Theology,  in  their  ser- 
monizing, bore  hard  on  religion,  and  the  practical  applica- 
tion of  their  discourses  is  often  slurred  over.  Doubtless 
dogma  is  the  foundation  of  moral  truth  ;  but  for  all  that, 
too  much  of  the  dogmatic  can  hardly  be  reconciled  with 
much  spirituality.  It  must  be  also  added  that  the 
abounding  of  the  moral  element  in  the  whole  substance 
of  preaching  is  an  essential  condition  of  eloquence.  In 
this  respect  the  Catholics  were,  perhaps,  in  a  more  favor- 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  1 75 

able  position  :  they  did  not  have  to  establish  the  dogma 
anew  for  their  own  Church,  and  as  it  was  for  their  inter- 
est to  cause  Protestants  and  their  doctrines  to  be  for- 
gotten, they  avoided  theological  controversy  as  much  as 
possible  ;  having  to  dogmatize  less,  they  moralized  more, 
and  their  whole  preaching  gained  by  it. 

That  which  redeems  the  fault  which  we  have  noticed 
in  Protestant  preaching  is  the  purity  and  solidity  of  the 

doctrinal   teaching  ;    it   is    identical    in    the     ^        .     . 
'^  '  Doctrinal 

main  with   that   which  we   call   Puritan  the-      teaching. 

ology,  though  differing  from  it  in  some  re- 
spects. The  PVench  reformed  preachers  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  laid  their  foundations  solidly  ;  the  Eng- 
lish Puritans  aimed  vigorously  for  immediate  results  ; 
the  first  had  more  regard  to  the  life  and  foundations  of 
the  Church  ;  the  last  aimed  more  at  the  salvation  of 
the  individual.  One  feature  which  characterized  the  re- 
formed preachers  of  the  seventeenth  century,  not  only 
those  who  remained  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  but 
their  successors  in  the  Reformation,  is  their  biblical  char- 
acter. Their  sermons  are  often  nothing  more  than  an 
extended  exegesis  of  the  text  ;  they  spell  it  out,  syllable 
by  syllable,  word  by  Avord  ;  they  press  it  ;  they  almost 
wring  it  ;  this  is  ordinarily  all  their  plan.  There  is  little 
invention,  but  there  is  a  judicious  and  exact  analysis, 
though  carried  to  an  extreme. 

Their  preaching  is,  however,  superior  to  that  of  their 
successors  in  regard  to  its  texture,  its  solidity,  its  cor- 
rectness, and  its  knowledge.  It  addressed  auditories 
dif^cult  to  satisfy — auditories  of  theologians,  sometimes 
of  martyrs.  It  was  "the  church  in  the  desert,"  as  it 
was  aptly  called.  What  force  there  was  needed  in  the 
flocks  themselves  to  support  such  a  style  of  preaching  ! 
But  they  doubtless  more  than  supported  it  ;  they  loved  it. 


17 0  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

For  to  this  height  a  whole  church  was  elevated.      Those 

merchants,  those  artisans,  studied  their  religion  with  the 

greatest  care. 

In   these   reformed    preachers,    notwithstanding    their 

literary  inferiority,  a  genuine  respect  for  learning  is  also 

apparent,  which  has  been  sometimes  errone- 
Respect  for 
learning-       ously  thought  to  be  incompatible  with  high 

pastoral  fidelity.  They  recognized  in  learning 
a  means,  a  power,  and  also  a  fitness.  One  of  them  was 
deposed  solely  on  account  of  his  culpable  ignorance  of 
good  letters.  Some  of  them  even  carried  their  cultiva- 
tion in  this  respect  farther  than  would  be  imagined  ;  thus 
Le  Faucheur,  the  most  vehement  of  all,  composed  "  A 
Treatise  on  the  Action  of  the  Orator,"  which  is  evidently 
the  fruit  of  thorough  classical  studies.  These  ministers 
were,  in  other  respects,  among  the  most  intelligent  men 
of  their  day  ;  they  wished  at  least  to  be  equal  to  the  best 
educated  of  their  congregations. 

Through  all  the  differences  which  separate  them  from 
the  Roman  Catholics  and  distinguish  them  among  them^ 
selves,  a  common  character  is  everywhere  seen — it  is  the 
French  genius,  the  French  style  ;  the  direct  march,  the 
method,  the  clearness.  It  is  not  that  which  makes  them 
great,  but  without  that  they  could  not  be  so  great. 
They  all  have,  also,  more  or  less  of  what  the  French  call 
"  V esprit.'' 

The  study  of  these  old  preachers  not  only  affords  us 
an  historical  interest,  but  they  furnish  us  also  good 
n^iodels.  One  may  read  many  of  them  even  now  for 
edification,  and,  excepting  their  archaic  language,  he  will 
find  them  little  touched  by  age.  In  the  purity  and 
solidity  of  their  doctrine  they  have  something  fresh, 
while  the  preachers  who  come  an  age  later  present  in 
their  sermons  a  faded  folia^ie  and  a  worn-out  doctrine. 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  1 77 

The  first  really  appear  to  us  to  be  younger,  and  in  reality 
they  were  so  ;  they  are  less  antiquated  even  than  the 
great  models  of  the  Roman  Catholic  pulpit.  If  they 
have  not,  like  them,  the  advantages  of  form,  they  have 
not  the  disadvantages  ;  for  the  form  is  something  tem- 
porary, while  the  substance  of  truth  is  eternal.  The  re- 
formed preachers  were  not  fashionable  in  their  day,  and 
that  is  partly  the  reason  why  they  are  not  superannuated 
now.  The  oldest  of  them  all,  Du  Moulin,  is  he  who 
appears  the  youngest. 

What  has  thus  far  been  said  applies  essentially  to  the 
preachers  of  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
The  literar}'  influence  and  culture  of  the  succeeding  last 
half  of  the  century  made  itself  more  felt  upon  their  suc- 
cessors. The  preachers  of  the  first  period,  which  extends 
from  Du  Moulin  to  Claude,  exclusively,  is  distinguished, 
according  to  Vinet,  by  three  characteristics  :  i.  The 
analytical  system  of  their  sermons  ;  2.  The  brief  place 
occupied  by  the  moral  element  ;  3.  The  almost  total 
absence  of  the  literary  and  even  oratorical  element. 

When  we  come  to  the  second  period  of  the  reformed 

preaching  of  the  seventeenth  centurj^  the  transition  is  so 

gradual    that    we    could  quite    as    well    say 

1         •  1  1  1       ^1        ,       r        T^^  second 

that  its  greatest  preachers,  like  Claude,  for        neriod 

example,  terminate  the  first  period.  Yet 
one  perceives  in  Claude's  sermons  the  first  symptoms  of 
the  homiletical  revolution  that  then  took  place.  Analy- 
sis becomes  synthesis.  It  was  very  much  like  the  history 
of  preaching  in  the  early  centuries.  Until  that  time  the 
expository  method  had  prevailed — an  exposition  easy, 
and  followed  ordinarily  by  a  simple  expansion  of  the  text. 
There  was  an  effort,  doubtless,  to  unite  different  parts, 
and  to  give  them  a  final  direction,  but  this  effort  was 
not  very  strenuous.      From  this  to  the  sermon,  ordinarily 


178  nOMILETICS    PROPER. 

SO  called,  which  grasps  an  idea  in  the  text,  there  is  a 
great  distance  filled  by  intermediate  examples.  Claude 
does  not  separate  himself  from  the  ancient  method,  he 
only  modifies  it.  In  this  conciliation  which  was  then  at- 
tempted there  was  a  desire  above  all  to  give  a  faithful, 
solid,  and  detailed  explication  of  the  text,  but  at  the 
same  time  to  develop  an  idea  which  should  become  the 
subject  of  the  discourse.  The  attempt  was  difficult,  and 
was  hardly  to  be  accomplished  without  doing  some  injury 
to  that  simplicity  of  attraction  which  should  belong  to 
the  Christian  pulpit.  The  Protestant  preachers  have  not 
always  avoided  the  danger  of  the  method  that  they  have 
chosen  ;  and  they  have  often  been  led  to  wrest  either 
their  mind  or  their  text.  This,  however,  is  better  than 
the  method  of  the  Catholic  orators,  who  scorn  the  text 
and  do  not  make  use  of  it. 

Another  character  of  the  sermons  of  this  second  period 
is,  that  controversy  occupies  a  less  and  less  prominent 
place.  We  will  now  speak  more  particularly  of  one  great 
man  as  being,  perhaps,  the  best  exponent  of  this  period. 

Jean  Claude  was  the  most  eminent  French- 
Cla  de        ^^^"  *^^  ^^^^  Reformed  Church   of   his  time  ; 

the  Roman  Catholics  called  him  "  the  famous 
minister  Claude."  He  was  born  in  1619  at  Sauvetat,  in 
the  Rouergue,  where  his  father  was  minister.  It  was 
under  his  father's  direction,  who  was  a  man  of  great 
knowledge,  that  he  carried  on  his  studies,  even  those  of 
theology,  although  he  desired  to  go  to  Saumur,  where 
he  was  attracted  by  the  polish  of  manners  and  language 
prevailing  there.  After  his  consecration  he  became  pas- 
tor of  the  little  church  of  "  Saintc  Afriqnc,''  in  the 
South,  where  he  could  devote  a  great  part  of  his  time  to 
study.  Called  to  be  pastor  at  Nismes  in  1654,  he  also 
taught  theology  there  with  success. 


HISTORY   OF   PREACHING.  1 79 

He  presided  at  the  provincial  synod  of  Nismes  in  1661, 
and  there  opposed  the  projects  of  reunion  with  the  State 
Church,  which  concealed  views  of  direct  oppression  of 
religious  freedom.  It  was  desired  by  the  originators  of 
this  plan  of  union,  on  the  one  hand  to  divide  and  on  the 
other  to  diminish  the  moral  power  of  a  body  whose  only 
power  Avas  moral.  Claude  declared  that  the  reformers 
could  not  consent  to  unite  light  with  darkness,  Christ 
with  Belial  ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  royal 
committee,  he  caused  this  declaration  to  be  inserted  in 
the  protocol.  In  consequence  of  this  bold  opposition, 
his  ministry  in  Languedoc  was  interdicted.  He  betook 
himself  to  Paris  to  protest,  but  could  not  succeed  in  re- 
moving the  interdiction. 

Then  opened  to  Claude  the  career  of  controversy,  in 
which  he  rendered  such  great  service  to  his  Church. 
Madame  de  Turenne  besought  him  to  refute  a  manu- 
script treatise  which  had  been  written  for  the  view  of 
converting  the  Marechal.  His  reply  was  widely  circulated 
before  it  was  printed.      His  fame  dates  from  that  time. 

He  then  refuted  the  book  upon  "  La  Perpetuite  de  la 
foi  sur  I'Eucharistie, "  in  which  Arnauldand  Nicolo  main- 
tained that  the  dogma  of  the  "  real  presence"  had  always 
been  admitted  by  Christendom.  The  Jesuits  themselves 
labored  to  spread  the  reply  of  Claude,  as  a  weapon 
against  the  Jansenists. 

Claude  was  named  minister  at  Paris  in  1666.  From 
that  time  his  influence  was  great  in  the  councils  of  the 
reformers.  He  was  the  leader  and  soul  of  his  party.  He 
was  placed  in  the  front  rank  on  all  important  occasions. 
The  most  celebrated  is  the  conference  or  controversy  that 
he  held  with  Bossuct,  at  the  invitation  of  a  relative  of 
Turenne,  Mademoiselle  de  Duras.  It  is  not  easy  to  dis- 
cover who  really  prevailed  ;  but  Bossuet  himself  said,  in 


l8o  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

speaking  of  Claude,  in  the  preface  of  his  own  relation  of 
the  dispute,  "  He  made  me  tremble  for  those  who  heard 
him. 

At  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  (1685)  he  was 
distinguished  in  the  general  proscription.  While  it  al- 
lowed to  other  ministers  a  delay  of  fifteen  days  to  leave 
the  kingdom,  Claude  was  compelled  to  leave  in  twenty- 
four  hours.  He  was  everywhere  on  his  journey  over- 
whelmed with  marks  of  respect,  even  on  the  part  of 
Catholics.  He  retired  to  La  Haye,  where  he  continued 
to  preach,  though  wholly  occupied  with  other  labors. 
He  died  at  the  end  of  eighteen  months  of  exile. 

Claude,  in  his  style,   belonged  to  that  literary  epoch 

which  is  called  the  age  of  Louis  XIV.      He  has  the  pure 

taste  of  the  great  writers  of  that  age,  a  classic 

^  ^  ^°       language,  and   a  horror  of  false  brilliancy. 
character  as 
a  preacher  ^  passage  from  his  first  discourse  on  the 

"  Parable  of  the  Marriage  Feast,"  he  ex- 
presses his  strong  aversion  to  elaborate  minuteness  in 
sermonizing. 

"  I  will  not  stop  here,"  he  says,  "  to  draw  an  imperti- 
nent parallelism  composed  of  all  the  points  of  correspond- 
ence that  might  be  discovered  between  a  marriage  feast 
and  the  gospel  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  much  less 
will  I  weary  myself  to  push  to  excess  this  figure  of  the 
'  marriage  feast.'  These  allegorical  and  parallelistic 
methods,  if  I  dared  say  so,  are  generally  only  bad  efforts 
or  evil,  which  do  not  please  any  one,  and  more  than  this, 
do  not  edify  any  one's  conscience." 

Claude,  while  attached  as  a  matter  of  principle  to  the 
analytic  or  expository  method,  still  inclines  to  the  syn- 
thetic treatment  ;  while  he  is  faithful  to  the  text,  and 
spells  it  out,  word  by  word,  as  did  his  predecessors,  yet 
he   is   not    satisfied    with    following    it   thus  closely  ;  he 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  l8l 

seeks  to  bind  it  up  in  one  or  two  ideas,  and  to  recast  it  in 
the  form  of  a  subject  ;  in  a  word,  he  has  a  plan.  This 
he  announces  ordinarily  at  the  beginning  of  his  sermon. 
Thus,  in  the  second  sermon  of  a  series  upon  the  parable 
of  the  wedding  (Matt.  22  :  I -7),  he  begins  in  this  wise  : 
"  You  have  come  here,  Christians,  to  learn  two  important 
truths  :  one,  the  corruption  of  man  deprived  of  the  aid  of 
grace,  and  the  other,  what  divine  justice  does  when  man 
abandons  his  duty.  These  are  the  two  points  to  be 
treated.  We  have  to  see,  first,  what  the  guests  did  when 
the  king  sent  his  servants  to  call  them  ;  secondly,  we 
have  to  consider  what  happened  to  these  guests." 

Nothing  like  this  is  to  be  observed  in  any  of  his  prede- 
cessors. And  in  the  fifth  sermon,  more  particularly  upon 
the  words,  "  Many  are  called,  but  few  are  chosen,"  he 
says  :  "  This  is,  in  truth,  the  conclusion  our  Lord  draws 
from  the  whole  of  the  parable,  and  this  is  the  reason  he 
gives  why  the  Jews  rejected  his  gospel,  and  why  among 
the  Gentiles  who  received  it  outwardly,  there  are  found 
some  who  did  not  bring  to  his  divine  banquet  the  right 
dispositions  of  heart.  To  treat  more  distinctly  so  great 
a  matter,  we  divide  it  into  two  parts.  The  first  will  be 
upon  the  calling  and  election  considered  in  themselves 
what  they  are  ;  the  second  will  have  regard  to  their  ex- 
tent according  to  the  limits  given  them  by  our  text." 

In  other  respects  we  do  not  find  anything  remarkable  in 
Claude  in  his  analysis  of  texts  and  subjects.  He  has  not 
much  invention,  but  is  judicious  and  penetrating.  What 
strikes  us  in  him  is  his  invariable  good  sense  and  eleva- 
tion and  firmness  of  spirit. 

His  style  is  terse,  neat,  and  rapid  ;  each  phrase,  each 
word  goes  straight  to  the  point,  ad  cvoitum  fcstinat. 
He  is  distinguished  also  generally  by  an  irreproachable 
correctness. 


102  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

"  He  did  not  view  the  public,"  says  the  author  of  his 
posthumous  works,  "  with  that  proud  security  that  we  see 
in  some  authors,  and  he  did  not  think  himself  so  infallible 
as  to  be  contented  with  his  first  thoughts.  His  principle 
was  that  he  could  not  reflect  enough  on  what  he  wrote, 
and  when  it  was  a  question  to  come  before  all  eyes,  he 
could  not  present  himself  with  too  much  honesty  or  wis- 
dom. This  obliged  him  to  revise  his  works  often,  and  to 
retouch  them  with  severity." 

As  to  the  quality  of  imagination,  whether  it  be  that 
which  invents  ideas  or  creates  images,  he  has  little  of  it  ; 
but  he  has  vigor  and  authority.  He  was  naturally  stern  ; 
Benoit  rightly  calls  him  "  the  inflexible  Claude,"  and  he 
found  too  many  occasions  to  show  his  stern  inflexibility. 
At  the  epoch  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  the  condition  of  the 
Reformed  Church  was  desperate  ;  the  Protestant  char- 
acter was  weakened  ;  the  whole  Church  was  gradually 
sinking  into  a  lethargy  ;  there  were  many  apostasies  of 
distinguished  persons  and  of  the  rich. 

Such  a  condition  of  things  inspired  Claude  to  utter 
words  of  terrible  severity.  These  are  not  commonplaces 
either  :  his  character,  moderate  and  rather  cold  than  pas- 
sionate, as  a  guaranty  that  they  were  not  also  exaggera- 
tions, but  a  faithful  portraiture  of  the  moral  condition  of 
his  auditors.  In  his  reproofs  he  shows  an  apostolic  bold- 
ness, without  personal  asperity,  and  sometimes  rising  to 
eloquence. 

Thus,  having  spoken  of  the  ruin  of  the  people  of  Israel 
after  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ,  Claude  addresses  his  audi- 
ence in  these  terms  :  "  Let  us  learn,  my  brethren,  from 
this  great  and  terrible  example,  to  know  and  fear  divine 
justice  ;  and  you,  ye  profane,  be  astonished.  There  is 
now  no  more  any  question  of  shifting  and  cavilling  about 
the  Christian  religion  ;  the  time  has  come  to  tremble  at 


HISTORY   OF  PREACH  I XG.  183 

the  sight  of  the  most  fearful  object  that  ever  presented 
itself  to  human  eye.  When  a  disbeliever  is  alone  in  the 
quiet  of  his  chamber,  he  can  philosophize  at  his  ease, 
and  search  out  arguments  to  call  in  question  the  plainest 
things  ;  but  when  he  is  in  the  open  field  and  sees  the  tem- 
pest burst  around  him,  and  the  lightning  strike  tall  trees 
and  burn  houses  ;  when  he  sees  the  earthquake-fire  de- 
scend from  heaven  and  leap  up  from  the  abyss  beneath, 
and  whole  cities  swallowed  or  consumed,  then  he  has 
something  else  to  do  than  to  weave  subtleties  ;  he  is  ter- 
rified, and  feels,  in  spite  of  what  he  has  said,  the  effect 
of  what  he  does  not  wish  to  believe.  And  so  it  is  with 
us  now.  If  it  were  only  a  question  of  dogmas  and  mys- 
teries, our  courageous  spirits  could  raise  troubles  and 
difficulties  ;  but  if  it  is  a  question  of  a  thunderbolt  hurled 
from  the  mightiest  hand  in  the  universe  ;  if  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  an  incurable  wound,  which  bleeds  and  has  bled 
for  seventeen  centuries  ;  if  it  is  a  question  of  a  fire  which 
smokes  before  our  eyes  and  will  smoke  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  who  would  not  be  afraid  ?  I  avow  that  God  has 
never  displayed  his  judgments  in  so  impressive  a  manner  ; 
that  he  has  never  presented  such  occasions  ;  that  the  Son 
of  God  descends  once  more  on  earth  to  be  personally 
crucified.  The  ruin  of  the  Jews  was  a  strange  event,  and 
hence  Scripture  presents  it  to  us  as  an  image  of  the  last 
judgment  and  of  the  end  of  the  world.  But,  while 
guarding  the  proportion  of  things,  I  say  that  God  does 
not  leave  men's  crimes  unpunished,  and,  above  all,  those 
which  outrage  or  bring  into  contempt  his  gospel  ;  and  if 
we  would  open  our  eyes  to  see  the  ways  of  his  providence, 
all  the  ages  and  even  our  own  age  will  furnish  us  with 
remarkable  examples.  Learn  then  to  fear,  and  knowing 
what  is  the  terror  of  the  Lord,  suffer  it  at  least  to  lead 
you  to  faith.     While  God  keeps  himself  hid  in  the  cloud 


1 84  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

of  his  pity  and  of  his  long-suffering,  and  has,  so  to  speak, 
his  arms  tied,  you  have  no  conception  of  his  power,  his 
anger,  or  his  justice  ;  but  know  if  you  overcome  his 
patience  by  your  obduracy,  the  victory  will  cost  you 
dear.  Remember  what  God  said  to  the  wicked  in  the 
fiftieth  Psalm,  for  after  having  set  forth  his  sins,  he  adds  : 
'  These  things  hast  thou  done,  and  I  kept  silence  ;  thou 
thoughtest  that  I  was  altogether  such  an  one  as  thyself  ; 
but  I  will  reprove  thee,  and  set  them  in  order  before  thine 
eyes.'  It  is  true  that  God  has  placed  our  evil  and  our 
good,  our  punishment  and  our  reward,  as  ideas  of  the 
future  ;  but  what  St.  Paul  has  said  for  the  consolation  of 
the  just,  *  Yet  a  little  while,  and  he  that  shall  come  will 
come,  and  will  not  tarry,'  we  can  say  with  stronger  rea- 
son in  order  to  impress  the  wicked  with  terror  ;  if  divine 
justice  lingers,  it  will  come,  and  will  not  tarry.  In  my 
opinion,  one  can  say  this  with  more  emphasis  in  regard  to 
the  effects  of  his  justice  than  of  his  goodness  ;  for  there 
is  nothing  in  the  wicked  but  what  hastens  his  justice, 
while  God's  goodness  finds  in  the  most  just  persons  a 
thousand  reasons  for  delay. 

"  But,  one  will  say,  why  do  you  speak  thus  ?  We,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  are  not  wicked,  nor  profane,  nor  unbe- 
lieving persons  ;  we  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  we  have 
made  profession  of  his  gospel  !  My  brethren,  I  know 
that  you  profess  to  be  Christians,  and  if  the  question 
were  on  condemning  the  act  of  the  Jews,  not  one  of  you 
would  undertake  its  defence.  I  am  even  persuaded  that 
if  there  may  be  among  us  many  profane  and  worldly  men 
who  make  no  account  of  religion,  there  are  still  many 
good  souls  who  desire  to  win  salvation  ;  and  if  this  were 
not  so  God  would  not  preserve  to  us  as  he  has  the  min- 
istry of  his  word.  But  do  we  not  make  ourselves  every 
day  unworthy  of  his  grace  by  the  great  number  of  sins 


HISTORY   OF  PKF.ACIIIXG.  185 

that  we  commit,  and  by  the  small  account  that  wc  make 
of  his  gospel  ?  We  are  selfish  and  avaricious,  hard  and 
obstinate,  unjust  and  violent,  proud  and  arrogant,  sensual 
and  given  to  pleasure,  envious,  slanderous,  malicious, 
implacable  like  all  the  rest  of  men  ;  and  how  can  we 
boast  of  our  Christianity  ?  It  is  for  this  reason  that  God 
has  made  us  for  a  longtime  to  hear  his  voice  ;  he  exhorts 
us,  he  admonishes  us,  he  presses  us,  he  solicits  us,  he 
chastises  us,  he  bears  with  us,  and  still  how  few  are  the 
fruits  that  he  has  yet  gathered  from  so  great  care  ?  We 
have,  then,  just  cause  to  fear  that  he  will  at  length  be 
angry  at  our  negligence  and  ingratitude,  and  we  have  the 
more  cause  to  fear  in  that,  notwithstanding  some  threat- 
enings  which  he  has  made  against  us,  and  which  have 
already  begun  to  be  accomplished,  there  has  been  no 
amendment  seen  in  our  people."  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  this  was  spoken  in  the  period  of  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  Huguenots,  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes,  and  the  dragonnades  of  Louis  XIV.  It  was  a 
painful,  perilous,  and  most  solemn  period  for  all  who 
loved  the  truth  in  France. 

We  have  spent  upon  this  preacher  and  this  epoch  more 
time  than  was  justifiable,  and  the  only  excuse  is  that  it 
is  new  and  noble  ground  for  study.     But  there  were  also 
other  preachers  of  marked   power  in  that  age,  who  be- 
longed   to    the    Protestant   Church,  such     as    Pierre    du 
Moulin  (already  mentioned),  Mos.  Amyraud,         Other 
Jean  Daille,  Michel  le  Faucheur,  Jean  Mes-    Protestant 
trezat,  and  Pierre  du  Bosc.     Associated  with       French 
these    in    lineal   descent    were    those    great     P""^**^  ^''^• 
French  preachers  of  the   eighteenth  century  who    were 
driven   to    Holland    by  the    edict    of    Nantes,  of  whom 
Jacques   Saurin,    whom    we    have    before    noticed,    was 
one  of  the  most  eminent,  such  as  Jean  Basnage,  Henri 


lS6  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Chatelain,  Jacques  Abbadie,  Pierre  Roques,  called  "  Pas- 
teur Evangelique."  The  first  mentioned  preachers  who 
remained  in  France  were  pastors  of  the  French  Protestant 
Church  in  times  of  its  distress  and  persecution,  when  it 
was  "  the  church  in  the  wilderness."  They  were,  as  has 
been  said,  apostolic  men,  true  leaders  and  counsellors  of 
the  people. 

The  more  widely  known  and  celebrated  French  Roman 
Catholic  divines  are  headed   by  Bossuet,  "  the  eagle   of 

_    .      ,      Meaux. "     He  was  born  in   1627  and  died 
Eminent  ' 

French        ^704'  being  almost  the   exact  contemporary 

Roman       of  Claude.      He  has  not  been  unjustly  com- 

Catholic      pared  to  Demosthenes,  though  it   must  be 

preac  ers—   ^^j^   ^^   comparison    is  one   exclusively  of 

Bossuet.  .  ,  ,    . 

French  writers.       His    sermons   abound   m 

passages  of  grandeur  and  force.  He  caught  something  of 
the  sublime  style  of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  who  were  his 
favorite  study  in  youth.  Indeed,  however  falsely  he 
may  have  interpreted  it,  the  Bible  was  the  grand  source 
of  his  inspiration  as  a  preacher.  His  six  oraisons  fiinc- 
brcs  are  full  of  majesty  of  tone,  and  have  a  breadth  and 
freedom  of  style  beyond  that  of  other  French  preach- 
ers. He  despised  the  minute  and  fine-spun  styles  ;  but 
his  faults  also  were  great,  having  a  tendency  to  stage 
effect,  or  to  the  false  sublime,  and  to  an  imperious  harsh- 
ness and  virulence  of  language.  He  was  jealously  at- 
tached to  the  orthodox  doctrine,  as  held  by  the  Catholic 
Church,  attacking  vindictively  both  the  heresies  of  Lu- 
ther and  of  Fenelon,  the  latter  in  the  disgraceful  contro- 
versy on  "  Quietism."  He  was  devoted  to  his  church 
rather  than  to  the  simplest  and  highest  objects  of  preach- 
ing ;  but  he  was  not  wanting  in  faithfulness  in  boldly 
attacking  the  vices  of  the  corrupt  court  of  Louis  XIV., 
resembling    Dr.    South,    who    was   placed    in   somewhat 


HISTORY  OF   rREACniA'C.  187 

similar  circumstances,  in  this  particular,  though  the  com- 
parison cannot  be  carried  farther.  He  was  a  learned  and 
brilliant  orator  of  a  brilliant  age,  but  his  fame  in  the 
future  will  never  be  so  great  as  it  Avas  in  the  past. 
Although  he  was  a  defender  of  the  rights  of  Gallicanism, 
he  was,  above  all,  the  indomitable  and  untiring  servant 
of  the  papacy,  or,  as  he  called  himself,  "  Bos  suctus 
aratro.''  He  was  great  from  his  own  point  of  view. 
Whatever  else  he  was  or  was  not,  he  was  the  determined 
foe  of  Protestantism,  and,  with  Massillon,  Flechier,  and 
other  court  chaplains,  he  hounded  on  Louis  XIV.  in  his 
persecutions  of  the  Huguenots  and  the  reformed  churches. 
Massillon,  probably  a  greater  pulpit  orator  than  Bos- 
.suet,  though  of  a  less  brilliant  style,  was  moderate  and 

self-contained,     even      in    his    most    fervid 

,  Massillon. 

utterances  ;  and  this   noticeable       vis  tcni- 

pcratd"  of  Massillon  is  one  chief  source  of  his  elo- 
quence :  it  marks  reserved  force  -a  great  quality  in 
preaching.  At  times  Massillon  was  vehemently  im- 
petuous. No  recorded  uninspired  sermon  ever  probably 
made  a  greater  immediate  impression  upon  an  audience 
than  his  sermon  on  "  The  small  Number  of  the  Elect." 
It  reminds  one  of  the  scenes  that  occurred  at  the 
preaching  of  Jonathan  Edwards.  When  he  came  to 
these  words  :  "  Withdraw  now  these  four  classes  of  sin- 
ners from  this  congregation,  for  they  will  be  withdrawn 
from  it  at  the  great  day.  Stand  forth  now,  ye  righteous  ! 
Where  are  ye  ?  Remnant  of  Israel,  pass  to  the  right  ! 
Wheat  of  Jesus  Christ,  separate  yourselves  from  the  chaff 
destined  for  the  everlasting  burning  !  Oh,  God,  where 
are  thine  elect  !"  hundreds  rose  up  with  agitation  and 
despair  painted  on  their  countenances,  and  the  preacher 
himself  was  obliged  to  stop,  overcome  with  emotion. 
Bourdaloue,    by  some  considered  the  greatest  of  the 


l88  IIOMILETICS    PRO  PER. 

French  preachers,  had  a  dignified  and  serious  style,  de- 
void   of    florid    ornament,  plain,    mascuHne, 
Bourdaloue.  ,      ,.  tt        i  i  i       r  i 

and    direct.       Me    drew    largely    trom    the 

fathers  of  the  Church.  He  was  called  "  Le  pre'dicatciir 
des  rots  ct  le  roi  dcs  predicatcurs."  As  one  who  set  his 
face  against  the  false  taste  of  the  Jesuit  pulpit  in  his 
times,  and  was  a  reformer  of  pulpit  style,  bringing  it  back 
to  something  of  its  pristine  soberness,  reasonableness, 
and  vigor,  Bourdaloue  is  perhaps  our  best  model  among 
the  great  Roman  Catholic  preachers  of  his  day.  He  has 
indeed  been  called  the  founder  of  modern  pulpit  elo- 
quence among  the  French. 

Fenelon,  whose  name  cannot  be  mentioned  but  with 
admiration  and  affection  by  all  who  love  Christ,  united  a 

polished    but  easy    and    natural    style    with 
Fenelon.  ......  .  .  „, 

profound    spirituality    and     unction.        1  he 

best  mystical  theology,  that  of  self-abnegation  and 
quietism — the  theology  of  Thomas-a-Kempis — was  ex- 
emplified in  the  writings  and  life  of  Fenelon. 

The  great  modern  French  preachers,  such  as  the  broth- 
ers Monod,  Coquerel  father  and  son,  Lacor- 

°  ^^^       daire,  De  Ravignan,  Perc  Hyacinthe,  Grand- 
French  , 
Dreachers      pierre.  Bersier,  De  Pressense,  and,  above  all, 

Alexander  Vinet,  who  may  be  reckoned  a 
French  preacher,  though  he  lived  at  Lausanne  in  Switzer- 
land, are  more  familiar  to  us  by  name,  though  their  sermons 
perhaps  may  be  as  unfamiliar  to  us  as  those  of  the  older 
classic  French  preachers.  The  French  are  almost  uni- 
versally memoriter  preachers,  taking  great  pains  to  com- 
mit their  sermons,  and  to  speak  them  with  grace,  fluency, 
and  fervor.  Though  often  characterized  by  great  spiritual 
fervor  and  devoncinent ,  they  confessedly  aim  at  pulpit 
eloquence.  They  are,  in  a  word,  more  complete  classic 
orators  than  the  German  or  English  preachers,  but  with- 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  l?9 

out  the  powerful  individuality  and  depth  of  the  preach- 
ers of  the  Teutonic  race. 

The  English  or  British  pulpit  is  excelled  by  none  in 
great    names.      It    is    robust,    practical,    sober,    direct  ; 

though  not  without    its    highly  speculative 

^  f        British 

and  mystical  side,  as  seen  in  the  group  of        pulpit. 

English  Platonic  divines  of  the  Puritan  pe- 
riod like  Nathaniel  Culverwell,  Ralph  Cudworth,  Henry 
More,  ending,  or  perhaps  degenerating  into  English 
Bohmenism  and  Quakerism,  but  comprehending  some  of 
the  most  lofty  and  spiritual  minds  of  the  age.  English 
preaching  really  began  with  Wyclif,  who  sowed  the  fire- 
seed  of  earnest  evangelical  preaching  which  sprang  up 
two  centuries  after  him,  though  its  greatest  representa- 
tives lived   in   the  seventeenth    century,  which  was  the 

golden  age  of  the   English  pulpit,  when  the 

*'  *=  *=•  ^      ^  Its  Golden 

Puritan   strength  and    fervor,    caught   from  .    ^ 

communion  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  were  still 
unadulterated.  Even  in  the  latter  portion  of  the  pre- 
vious century,  during  the  fires  of  the  Reformation  in 
Elizabeth's  reign,  the  emancipation  of  the  English  mind 
showed  itself  in  the  new  vigor  and  spiritual  freedom  of 
the  pulpit  ;  and  many  devoted  preachers  of  the  pure  gos- 
pel, like  John  Rogers,  Henry  Smith,  Bernard  Gilpin, 
were  precursors  of  the  more  learned  and  eloquent  of  the 
Puritan  divines  of  the  next  reigns,  whose  preaching  was 
massive  in  philosophic  thought,  with  a  hard  rind  of  contro- 
versial theology,  but  informed  and  instinct  in  every  part 
with  spiritual  light  and  living  energy — the  age  of  John 
Howe,  Baxter,  Flavel,  Calamy,  Owen,  Bates,  Charnock, 
and  their  powerful  compeers  of  the  Church  party.  Hook- 
er, Donne,  Bishop  Hall,  South,  Barrow,  Jeremy  Taylor, 
Leighton.  Hooker  and  Donne,  it  is  true,  belong  also  to 
a  somewhat  earlier  period,  and  they  possess  much  of  the 


1 9°  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

richness  and  power  of  the  wonderful  Elizabethan  age  of 

intellectual  development.     Old  Fuller  says  of  Hooker  : 

"  Mr.  Hooker,   his    voice   was    low,  stature 
Hooker. 

little,   gesture  none    at    all,   standing   stone 

still  in  the  pulpit  as  if  the  posture  of  his  body  were  the 
emblem  of  his  mind,  immovable  in  his  opinions.  Where 
his  eye  was  left  fixed  at  the  beginning  it  was  found 
fixed  at  the  end  of  his  sermon  ;  in  a  word,  the  doc- 
trine he  delivered  had  nothing  but  itself  to  garnish  it. 
His  style  was  long  and  pithy,  driving  on  a  whole  flock 
of  several  clauses  before  he  came  to  the  close  of  a 
sentence.  So  that,  when  the  copiousness  of  his  style 
met  not  with  a  proportionable  capacity  in  his  auditors, 
it  was  unjustly  censured  for  perplext,  tedious,  and  ob- 
scure. His  sermons  followed  the  inclination  of  his 
studies,  and  were  for  the  most  part  on  controversies  and 
deep  points  of  school  divinity." 

In  the  other  great  preachers  of  this  period  there  was  a 
rich  play  of  the  imagination,  and  often  true  eloquence  ; 
perhaps  there  are  no  passages  of  more  rare  and  wonderful 

eloquence  to  be  found  in  the  sermons  of  any 
Donne. 

preacher  than  in  those  of  Dr.   Donne  ;    but 

they  are  "  purple  patches"  interwoven  with  a  vast  deal 

that   is  rhapsodical  and  feeble.     Charnock  is    especially 

vigorous  and  masculine  ;  he  is  also  perspicuous  and  often 

profound. 

Of    English  sermonizers,  whether  of  the  older  or  the 

more  modern  school,  Robert  South  is  to  be  particularly 

noticed.     He  was  born  in  i6^^,  and  in  165 1 
South.  00 '  :? 

became  a  student  of  Christchurch,  Oxford, 
obtaining  the  honor  of  University  orator.  After  the 
Restoration  he  was  made  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  Charles 
H.,  and  continued  to  be  a  staunch  loyalist  and  unflinch- 
ing  and    bigoted    supporter    of   the    English    prelacy  in 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  191 

opposition  to  the  Presbyterians  and  Puritans,  He  died 
in  1716.  He  belonged  to  the  last  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century — to  the  stormy  period  of  the  English  revolution, 
and  of  the  conflict  between  the  kingly  and  popular 
powers.  It  was  the  age  of  great  men — of  Cromwell, 
Milton,  Bacon,  Locke,  Fuller,  Cudworth,  Stillingfleet, 
Owen,  Howe,  Baxter,  Bunyan,  Barrow,  Taylor.  South 
did  not  at  all  like  the  stricter  Puritan  school  of  preachers, 
and  there  is  little  of  real  spirituality  in  his  sermons  ;  but 
he  is  nevertheless  a  great  ethical  writer,  not  a  dry  dialec- 
tician, but  ever  keeping  his  feet  on  the  facts  of  nature  and 
experience.  He  lashes  vice  and  the  vice  of  his  age  with  all 
the  power  of  his  unsparing  wit  and  sarcasm.  In  the  loose 
age  of  Charles  II.,  Rochester,  and  Dryden,  he  stood 
boldly  upon  the  rock  of  good  morals.  In  thought  he  is 
powerful  but  irregular,  being  influenced  in  this  respect 
by  his  passions,  and  resembling  a  volcano  rather  than  a 
fruit-bearing  mountain.  He  was  a  thoroughbred  po- 
lemic, giving  and  taking  blows  without  mercy.  As  a 
preacher  few  have  excelled  him  in  vigor  of  language,  and 
as  the  master  of  a  trenchant  and  forcible  English  style. 
Though  rarely  sublime,  he  is  often  eloquent.  He  is  an 
excellent  model  of  a  sermonizer.  His  sermons  always  \ 
possess  a  distinct  and  indeed  strongly  marked  logical 
plan,  and  his  treatment  of  subjects  is  of  the  most  thorough 
as  well  as  copious  kind.  (See  sermon  on  "  Image  of  God 
in  Man.")  There  is  always  a  body  of  substantial  and 
solid  reasoning  in  his  discourses.  But  he  is  greater  as  a 
sermon-maker  than  as  a  genuine  preacher  of  the  gospel. 
He  had  more  grit  than  grace.  He  had  a  serviceable  and 
business-like,  strong  and  picturesque  style.  There  is 
often  a  homely  force  about  it  which  is  better  than  all  the 
graces  of  rhetoric.  He  speaks  of  the  gospel's  "  setting 
fallen  man  on  his  legs  again."     Discoursing  of  sceptics 


192  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

he  says,  "  Or  can  they  imagine  that  the  law  of  God  will 
be  baffled  with  a  lie  clothed  in  a  scoff?"  He  exclaims, 
*'  Creation  bends  and  cracks  under  the  wrath  of  God." 
One  cannot  open  South  without  finding  some  strong 
meat.  He  is  not  one  of  those  who  is  the  servant  of  his 
language,  but  language  is  his  servant.  He  understood 
the  power  of  the  English  language  as  well,  perhaps,  as 
any  prose  writer  of  English.  He  was  quick  at  resem- 
blances and  objects  of  fresh  illustration.  His  wit  was  pun- 
gent. He  speaks  of  the  peril  of  the  modern  infidel's  be- 
coming like  the  ancient  idolater,  in  these  words  :"  That 
he  should  at  length  come  to  fawn  upon  his  own  dog  ; 
bow  himself  before  a  cat  ;  adore  leeks  and  garlic,  and 
shed  penitential  tears  at  the  smell  of  a  deified  onion." 

He  preached  out  of  his  intense  convictions,  whether 
right  or  wrong,  but  he  was  strongly  biassed  by  his  preju- 
dices, and  is  a  noticeable  example  of  a  partisan  or  political 
preacher  in  the  bad  sense  of  the  term.  Nothing  was  so 
black  as  his  opposers,  nothing  so  white  as  his  own  party. 
He  is  more  than  usually  virulent  in  his  assaults  upon 
Puritan  worship  and  extemporaneous  prayer  ;  and  he 
says  of  the  Established  Church  of  England  that  it  is 
"  the  purest  and  most  apostolically  reformed  church  in 
the  Christian  world."  He  preached  absolute  subjec- 
tion to  princes  and  the  divine  right  of  kings  ;  he  calls 
Charles  I.  "  a  blessed  saint,  the  justness  of  whose  govern- 
ment left  his  subjects  at  a  loss  for  an  occasion  to  rebel  ;  a 
father  to  his  country,  if  but  for  this  only  that  he  was  the 
father  of  such  a  son."  He  says  there  is  but  one  prayer 
which  is  omitted  in  the  English  prayer-book,  and  that 
is  that  "  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  should  be  the 
book  of  worship  used  in  the  whole  world  from  that  time 
and  forever  !" 

But  as  the  writer  of  an  every-day  nervous  English  style, 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  193 

without  false  sentiment  and  false  ornament,  virile, 
direct,  clear,  incisive,  and  practical,  we  know  no  better 
model  for  the  orator,  whether  at  the  bar  or  in  the  pulpit. 
If  his  fervor  at  times  is  earthly,  and  his  eloquence 
Demosthcncan  rather  than  Pauline,  this  is  the  fault  of 
the  man  more  than  of  the  style,  for  that  has  genu- 
ine individuality.  It  is  hard  for  us  to  regard  him  with 
entire  approbation  or  patience  because  he  is  so  bigoted  a 
foe  of  free  government  and  a  free  church  ;  but  take  him 
aside  from  his  political  prejudices,  and  we  will  find  him 
to  be  a  great  moral  reasoner  and  also  a  powerful  apologist 
for  the  main  doctrinal  truths  of  Christianity  in  a  highly 
infidelic  and  scoffing  age. 

A  writer  in  the  Edinburgh  Rcz'tc^c  sa.ys  o(  South  :  "His 
sermons  are  well  worthy  of  frequent  perusal  by  every 
young  preacher."  He  is  not  so  wordy  and  epithctic  as 
Earrow,  is  more  pointed  than  Howe,  and  is  more  prac- 
tical and  has  better  command  of  the  imagination  than 
Jeremy  Taylor.  He  is  also  clearer  in  arrangement  and 
freer  from  classicisms  of  style  than  are  his  eminent  con- 
temporaries. While  there  is  a  great  mass  of  valuable 
matter,  ethical  and  theological,  in  his  sermons,  he  is 
chiefly  to  be  studied  for  his  incomparable  English.  His 
chief  fault  of  style,  perhaps,  is  his  too  frequent  use  of 
antithesis,  which  comes  from  his  keen  and  uncontrollable 
wit.  He  is  ever  more  interested  in  state  religion  than  in 
the  religion  of  the  New  Testament,  and  his  works  form 
a  treasury  of  prelatical  arguments  ;  but,  as  has  been 
said,  when  not  pursued  by  this  ecclesiastical  demon  he  is 
an  earnest  preacher  on  moral  and  religious  subjects. 

Isaac  Barrow  was  also  a  distinguished  master  of  the 

moral-descriptive    style    of    preaching,    but 

,  .     ,  ,  .101.  Barrow. 

nis  language  does  not  compare  with  l^outh  s 

for   condensed  vigor,    and   it   is  overloaded  with   adjec- 


194  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

tives  and  qualiflcatives  even  to  verboseness.  Barrow 
is  also  lengthy  in  his  treatment  of  a  subject.  He  has 
"  the  sift  of  continuoLisness. "  His  sermons  are  in  fact 
treatises  on  Christian  themes  and  the  Christian  virtues, 
some  of  them  being  continuations  of  the  same  subject 
through  five  or  six  discourses,  as  his  sermons  on  "  Obedi- 
ence to  Spiritual  Guides. "  They  are  better  fitted  in  their 
present  shape  for  reading  in  the  study  than  for  delivery 
from  the  pulpit,  and  they  were  felt  to  be  so  sometimes 
by  the  audiences  of  his  day.  Yet  they  have  some  marked 
qualities  of  power. 

Jeremy  Taylor  cannot  be  judged  of  superficially  ;  for 
he  is  like  a  mountain  or  a  whole  terrestrial  region  bearing 

all  manner  of  fruits.     He  affords  illustrations 
lereiny  Taylor. 

of  all  kinds   of   style,  of  the  best  and    the 

worst.  There  is  sometimes  a  lack  of  the  pure  gospel  in 
them  ;  but  his  sermons  and  writings,  as  examples  of  what 
Taine  calls  "  the  period  of  the  Christian  Renaissance  in 
literature,"  are  vast  treasures  of  religious  thought  and 
even  theology,  though  his  works  are  better  adapted  for 
private  meditation  than  for  imitation  in  the  pulpit.  As 
one  writer  has  said  of  him,  "  He  is  a  preacher  who  comes 
in  state  to  the  soul" — not  the  best  kind  of  preacher  for  all 
souls.  To  read  him  is  like  looking  into  a  gorgeous  sun- 
set ;  there  is  often  a  vagueness  in  the  ideas,  but  it  is  a 
glorious  illumination  of  the  earth  and  heavens,  an  in- 
describable magnificence  of  imagery,  through  which  his 
imagination  shines  like  the  sun  ere  it  sinks  into  the 
ocean.  He  might  have  been  born  in  the  Orient  and 
reared  in  a  "  garden  of  spices  ;"  nor  would  David  and 
David's  royal  son  have  despised  his  companionship,  nor 
failed  to  acknowledge  the  kinship  of  his  genius. 

But  let  us  speak  of  him  more  circumstantially.     Jeremy 
Taylor,  son   of  a  Cambridge  barber,  was  born  in   1613. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  195 

He  entered  Cambridge  University  when  but  a  boy  of 
thirteen,  went  through  a  briUiant  seven  years'  course  as 
a  student,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  was  admitted  to 
holy  orders.  His  precocious  genius  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  Archbishop  Laud,  and  obtained  for  him  early 
preferment  in  the  Church.  His  first  publication  was  a 
defence  of  the  Church  under  the  title  "  Episcopacy  As- 
serted." During  the  reign  of  Parliament  he  retired  from 
public  life  and  taught  school,  and  also  wrote  many  of  his 
greatest  works,  such  as  "  The  Liberty  of  Prophesying," 
the  "  Life  of  Christ,"  "  The  Rule  and  Exercises  of  Holy 
Living,"  "  The  Rule  and  Exercises  of  Holy  Dying,"  and 
his  famous  "  Doctor  Dubitantium  ;  or,  The  Rule  of  Con- 
science in  all  her  General  Measures."  He  was  made 
Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor  in  1660,  and  died  in  1667. 
His  character  is  hard  to  analyze,  and  combines  the  rarest 
excellences  with  some  marked  defects.  He  uttered  the 
profoundest  as  well  as  the  most  baseless  things.  He  has 
risen  to  the  sublimest  heights  of  the  imagination,  and 
has  given  specimens  also  of  decided  bombast.  As  a  rea- 
soner  he  is  at  times  remarkably  clear,  close,  and  cogent  ; 
but  at  other  times  his  imagination  swayed  his  reason, 
and  his  figurative  language  led  him  into  ambiguities  of 
expression  which  seemed  almost  to  amount  to  moral 
ambiguities.  He  often  admits  weak  arguments,  and 
mixes  sound  and  unsound  arguments,  and  thus  impairs 
the  strength  of  his  reasoning  ;  but  take  him  for  all  in  all 
he  was  the  most  learned  and  brilliant,  if  not  the  most 
evangelical  divine  of  his  times,  and  almost  of  any  time. 
He  had  both  compass  and  subtlety  of  mind  ;  his  theology 
was  practical  ;  and  as  a  moral  rcasoner  he  was,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  sound  and  strong,  because,  without  question,  he 
heartily  loved  truth  and  was  a  thoroughly  good  man,  with 
a  Christian  spirit.     He  painted   virtue   and   vice  in  their 


ig-*  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

beauty  and  deformity.  But  his  regal  imagination  is  his 
great  glory  as  a  writer,  and  in  this  he  stands  unsur- 
passed. There  is  no  subject,  not  even  the  driest  point 
of  casuistry,  that  he  does  not  adorn  with  grace  and 
luxuriant  imagery.  His  learning  that  ransacked  antiq- 
uity did  not  seem  for  a  moment  to  dampen  the  fire  and 
splendor  of  his  imagination.  He  loves  ornament  abso- 
lutely for  ornament's  sake,  or  because  he  is  a  poet  in  love 
with  beauty.  He  plays  with  his  fancies  as  if  they  Avere 
his  children.  His  tropes  run  into  metaphors,  his  meta- 
phors into  similes,  his  similes  into  apologues  and  allego- 
ries. His  writing  is  like  one  broad  "  field  of  the  cloth 
of  gold."  While  thus  his  imagination  is  not  oratorical 
but  poetical,  and  to  the  utmost  diffuse,  his  sermons,  of 
which  there  are  sixty-four,  are  notwithstanding  the  finest 
of  his  works — most  full  of  thought  and  eloquence,  of  sound 
theology  and  beautiful  Christian  spirit.  Yet  he  was  too 
gentle,  calm,  and  meditative  for  the  greatest  style  of 
preacher,  and  lacked  energy,  earnestness,  and  directness. 
He  is  also  somewhat  vague  in  his  devotional  writings,  and 
he  does  not  bring  forward  with  sufficient  clearness  the 
distinctive  doctrines  of  the  gospel.  He  is  more  practical, 
however,  than  metaphysical  in  his  theology,  and  his 
views  on  religious  toleration  (which  were  not  always  car- 
ried out  in  his  acts)  were  broad,  and  suited  to  any  times. 
He  was  inclined  to  Pelagian  and  latitudinarian  views  ; 
and  there  is,  perhaps,  although  his  sermons  are  pervaded 
by  a  Christian  spirit,  too  little  of  the  element  of  Christ 
as  Intercessor,  as  the  atoning  Redeemer  of  men.  He 
rests  much  on  natural  theology,  and  on  arguments  such 
as  Cicero  or  Plato  might  have  used.  Indeed  he  is  some- 
times ranked  with  the  school  of  the  Cambridge  Platonists, 
or  mystics,  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

In  his  use  of  language  he  is  inclined  to   employ  words 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  1 97 

derived  from  the  Greek  and  Latin,  and  also  in  their 
original  senses,  as  "  contortion"  for  bruise,  "  excellent" 
for  exceeding,  as  "  excellent  pain."  His  style,  beyond 
even  the  custom  of  his  day,  is  studded  with  classical  allu- 
sions and  quotations.  In  the  structure  of  his  sentences, 
though  they  are  long  and  complex,  they  are  generally 
clear,  the  clauses  being  joined  together  by  a  simple  con- 
junctive. He  makes  use  of  language  with  a  masterly 
power,  owning  no  rule  but  the  exigency  of  his  own  fertile 
thought  and  brilliant  imagination.  He  should  be  studied 
mainly  as  one  of  the  great  masters  of  English  literature, 
and  in  this  regard  should  be  approached  not  in  a  flippant 
and  critical  but  reverent  spirit.  His  study  is  particularly 
useful  to  the  preacher  and  student  of  theology  on  account 
of  the  unstinted  richness  of  his  thought  and  copiousness 
of  his  language  upon  religious  themes  ;  and  also  for  his 
liturgical  or  devotional  thought,  in  which,  as  on  an  eagle's 
wings,  he  soars  past  common  bounds  into  the  highest 
empyrean  of  praise  and  adoration. 

Let  no  common  preacher  attempt  to  imitate  Jeremy 
Taylor  in  his  imagination,  for  too  much  ornament,  de- 
spite its  richness,  makes  a  cold  style.  But  a  preacher's 
imagination,  if  he  have  any,  may  be  touched  and  set  on 
fire  by  the  exceeding  brilliancy  of  this  poet-preacher  of 
old  England's  greatest  period  of  great  divines. 

Of  the  Presbyterian  and  Puritan  divines  of  this  same 

epoch  the  most   celebrated  are    John  Bunyan,   Richard 

Baxter,  John  Owen,  and  John  Howe.     We 

will  say  a  few  words  of  Howe,  Baxter,   and 

^  '  '  vines. 

Bunyan,  the  three  decidedly  the  superior  in 
original  genius  ;   for  Owen,  though  learned    and  weighty 
as  a  writer,  was,  as    a   preacher,  prolix   and  ponderous. 
He  lacked  the  ethereal  fire. 

John  Howe  was  born  in   1630,  and  died  in  1706.      He 


198  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

Studied  both  at  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  and  in   1656  he 

was  appointed  domestic  chaplain  to  Crom- 
John  Howe.  ^^  tttt         -..i 

well.      Under  the      Act  of  Uniformity     he 

was  ejected  from  his  parish  at  Torrington,  and  wandered 
about  preaching  here  and  there  until  he  found  a  home  in 
Ireland,  where  he  wrote  his  greatest  work,  "The  Good 
Man  the  Living  Temple  of  God."  He  afterward  became 
the  pastor  of  a  dissenting  church  in  London.  He  trav- 
elled on  the  continent,  and  resided  for  a  time  at  Utrecht 
in  Holland.  At  the  "  Declaration  of  the  Liberty  of  Con- 
science" in  England,  he  headed  the  deputation  of  dis- 
senting ministers  in  their  address  to  the  throne. 

He  was  perhaps  greater  as  a  theologian  than  as  a 
preacher  ;  but  as  his  theology  was  originally,  for  the 
most  part,  presented  in  the  form  of  sermons,  and  those 
gathered  up  into  treatises,  he  takes  his  rank  as  one  of 
the  great  theological  preachers  of  his  age.  English  the- 
ology at  this  day,  it  might  be  said  with  little  qualifica- 
tion, owes  more  to  John  Howe  than  to  any  other  Eng- 
lishman. When  very  young  he  drew  up  a  book  of  divinity 
for  his  own  use.  His  writings  as  well  as  his  sermons  are 
characterized  by  a  lofty  eminence  of  thought,  broad  views 
of  the  divine  nature,  and  great  spirituality.  He  disliked 
exclusiveness  in  religion,  and  could  not  be,  even  in  the 
controversial  times  in  which  he  lived,  a  sectarian.  He 
strove  for  union  among  Protestants  of  all  names.  His  ser- 
mons are  long,  scholastic  in  form,  dwelling  with  prolixity 
on  the  explanation  of  terms  before  coming  to  the  subject, 
and  abounding  in  learned  and  Latin  phrases  ;  but  still 
for  his  times  they  were  full  of  life,  freedom,  and  power  ; 
and  as  has  been  said,  "  The  better  times  of  the  Church 
will  be  marked  by  an  increasing  appreciation  of  John 
Howe's  writings." 

His  sermons  are  sometimes  more  like  contemplations  of 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  199 

divine  truth  than  homilies  ;  in  which  there  are  thoughts 

marked  by  intellectual  force  and  majesty,  and  a  certain 

ravishing  sublimity.     He  delighted   in  dwelling  on   the 

being,  nature,  and   attributes  of  God,  and  the  image  of 

God    in    man,  so   that    from    his   profound   ideality  and 

spirituality  of  conception  he  has  sometimes  been  termed 

the  "  Platonic  Puritan."    His  sermons  form  in  themselves 

a  "  body  of  divinity  ;"  and  the  preacher,  especially  if  he 

be  one  who  desires  to  be  grounded  in  the  deepest  ideas 

of  a  theological  science  which  is  at  the  same  time  imbued 

with  the  purest  influence  of  the  word  and  spirit  of  God, 

cannot  afford  to   be    unacquainted  with  the  writings  of 

John    Howe.     Howe    must  not,    however,    be    thought 

of  wholly   as  a  theologian  or  theological    preacher  ;    he 

was   also   plain  in  the  rebuke  of  sin,    and    practical    in 

his  views    of   Christian    morality.       He  says,  in    one    of 

his  discourses,    "  A  miracle  may  strike    a   little   wonder 

at    first,  but  good  morality  {i.e.  a  holy   conversation)  it 

sinks,  it  soaks  to  the  heart."     One  of  his  finest  and  most 

moving   discourses   is   that    entitled    "  The    Redeemer's 

Tears." 

Richard  Baxter  was  born  in  1615  and  died  in  1692,  his 

life  embracing  a  controversial  period  of  history.      He  was 

ordained  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  and  be- 

1  .  r     .  Richard 

came  in  1640  the  parish  clergyman  of  Kid-       Baxter 

derminster,  where  he  not  only  won  a  high 
position  as  a  preacher,  but  was  the  instrument  of  relig- 
ious reformation.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war, 
though  a  strong  monarchist  he  was  also  a  strong  Puritan, 
and  he  exerted  a  conservative  influence  during  all  that 
troublous  time  on  both  parties.  He  was,  however,  out- 
spoken in  his  opinions,  and  at  length,  by  the  "Act  of 
Uniformity,"  was  driven  from  the  English  Church,  so 
that  the  latter  part  of  his  life  was  chiefly  spent  in  the 


200  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

writing  of  those  works  which  have  made  his  name  famous. 
He  was  a  voluminous  author,  the  total  number  of  his 
publications  exceeding  one  hundred  and  sixty  ;  and  of 
them  Isaac  Barrow  said  that  "  his  practical  writings  were 
never  mended,  and  his  controversial  seldom  refuted." 
Of  all  these  works  none  are  more  profitable  in  a  homi- 
letical  point  of  view  than  his  "  Reformed  Pastor  ;"  and 
in  a  spiritual  point  of  view  than  his  "  Saint's  Ever- 
lasting Rest."     His  published  sermons  are  now  mostly 

in  the  form  of  tractates  or  treatises,  as 
As  a  preacher. 

those  of  John  Howe.  Of  preaching  Bax- 
ter himself  said  :  "  It  must  be  serious  preaching  which 
will  make  men  serious  in  hearing  and  obeying  it  ;"  and 
the  spirit  of  this  remark  characterized  his  preaching 
throughout.  He  was  a  solemn  and  searching  preacher, 
addressing  the  conscience  in  a  way  that  might  be  justly 
termed  "  blood-earnestness."  Sentences  like  the  follow- 
ing frequently  occur  in  his  sermons  :  "  O  thou  carcass, 
when  thou  hast  lain,  rotted,  and  mouldered  to  dust  till  the 
resurrection,  God  will  then  call  thee  to  account  for  thy 
sin,  and  cast  thee  into  everlasting  fire  before  you  can  be 
made  to  feel."  But  it  is  said  of  him  that  while  in  his 
youth  he  preached  of  repentance,  of  sin,  and  of  everlasting 
wrath,  in  his  old  age  he  preached  of  the  love  of  God  and 
of  Christian  charity,  and  his  sermons  became  almost  like 
hymns  of  the  praise  of  God. 

But  he  is  especially  powerful  in  appeal,  using  the  great- 
est plainness  of  speech,  and  calling  men  sottish,  senseless, 
stupid,  carnal  ;  yet  as  he  was  animated  by  the  love 
of  men,  and  as  his  accents  breathed  of  the  pure  influ- 
ence of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  often  were  touched  by  a 
celestial  fire,  he  was  able  to  be  plain  even  to  severity. 
He  labored  for  the  meanest  and  poorest  as  well  as  the 
greatest  of  his  flock.     He  studied  the  temper  of  men's 


HISTORY   OF  rKEACHING.  20 1 

minds,  and  as  a  pastor  and  preacher  he  tried  men's 
spirits  with  rare  penetration  and  faithfulness. 

He  had  a  certain  noble  negligence  of  style,  and  much 
copiousness  of  expression,  though  with  no  affected  elo- 
quence or  rhetoric. 

His  preaching  was,  indeed,  without  ornament,  though 
Baxter  had  a  vein  of  poetry  in  his  nature.  In  his  younger 
days  his  sermons  were  of  a  highly  argumentative  and 
theological  cast  ;  afterward  he  relied  more  on  simple  fact, 
Scripture,  and  experience.  In  truth  his  sermons  form  a 
rare  union  of  reasons  and  motives.  His  style  was  plain, 
natural,  and  clear  ;  and,  as  he  said,  "  My  intellect 
abhorreth  confusion."  He  also  abhorred  all  affectations 
of  style,  and  sought  to  preach  simply,  by  manifestation 
of  the  truth  commending  himself  to  men's  consciences. 
He  labored  to  save  souls.  All  his  powers  he  threw  into 
that  object,  and  his  language  often  reached  the  extreme 
of  earnestness  and  passion.  He  cried  out,  "  O  that 
heaven  and  hell  should  work  no  more  on  men  !  O  that 
everlastingness  should  work  no  more  !"  Baxter  showed 
the  martyr-spirit,  even  Avhere  he  may  have  erred  some- 
times in  his  opinions.  He  steadfastly  upheld  his  princi- 
ples, both  in  the  presence  of  Charles  II.  and  of  Cromwell, 
suffering  persecution  for  conscience'  sake  ;  and  he  Mas  in 
advance  of  his  times  in  principles  of  Christian  toleration 
and  communion.  Baxter  spoke  once  of  his  own  style  of 
preaching  and  writing  in  this  wise  :  "  Though  I  have 
had  my  part  of  all  these  means  (that  is,  of  books  and 
learning),  yet  being  parted  five  years  from  my  books  and 
three  years  from  my  preaching,  the  effects  may  be  seen. 
You  must  expect  neither  quotations  or  oratorical  testi- 
mony, or  ornaments  of  style  ;  but  not  yet  having  wholly 
ceased  from  writing,  I  may  own  so  much  of  the  exactness 
(of  good  style)  as  will  allow  me  to  entreat  the  readers  not 


202  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

to  use  me  as  many  have  done,  who  by  overlooking  some 
one  word  have  made  the  sense  another  thing,  and  have 
made  it  a  crime  to  be  exact  in  writing,  because  they  can- 
not or  will  not  be  exact  in  reading,  or  charitable  or 
humane  in  interpreting."  His  sermons,  like  those  of  his 
times,  are  long,  and  elaborately  planned,  with  many  divi- 
sions and  subdivisions. 

It  would  not  do  to  leave  this  mention  of  the  great  Puri- 
tan divines  without  a  passing  allusion  at  least  to  perhaps 
a  greater  than  them  all — viewed  as  a  man  of  genius — 
simple    John    Bunyan,    who    once    upon    a   time   had  a 

dream    that     opened     deeper    into    things 
John  Bunyan.     ,.    .        ^,  ....  ^    , 

divme  than  many  a  prophet  s  vision.     John 

Bunyan  is  commonly  looked  upon  as  the  author  of  "  Pil- 
grim's Progress,"  and  that  is  all  that  is  known  of  him. 
It  were  indeed  enough  to  have  been  the  author  of  a 
book  which  Longfellow  calls  "  the  English  Divina  Coin- 
media,''  and  of  which  it  has  been  said,  "It  is  supposed 
that  no  other  book,  except  the  Bible,  has  gone  through 
so  many  editions  and  attained  to  so  wide  a  popularity  in 
all  languages,  as  the  '  Pilgrim's  Progress. '  "  But  Bunyan 
was  also  a  preacher  endowed  with  special  gifts  and  power. 
He  was  born  in  1628,  the  son  of  a  tinker,  and  was 
brought  up  to  that  humble  occupation.  The  opinion 
which  has  commonly  prevailed,  that  he  was  a  profligate 
youth,  and  which  rests  mainly  upon  some  of  his  passion- 
ate self-accusations,  is  not  now  believed  to  be  true  in  the 
sense  of  an  outwardly  licentious  life.  He  had  temptations 
and  profane  thoughts,  and  fightings  with  Satan  as  did  Lu- 
ther ;  but  that  his  conversion  awaked  his  whole  higher  na- 
ture, intellectual  as  well  as  spiritual,  to  a  remarkable  de- 
gree of  activity,  and  made  a  new  man  of  him,  there  is  little 
doubt.  He  served  in  the  Parliamentary  army  for  a  while, 
and  then  became  a  preacher  in  a  Baptist  church  at  Bed- 


HISTORY   OF  PRF.ACIIIXG.  203 

ford.  lie  was  silenced,  and  then  imprisoned  in  Bedford 
Jail  under  the  act  passed  against  conventicles.  During 
the  twelve  years  of  his  imprisonment  he  wrote  "  Pilgrim's 
Progress."  On  his  release  he  again  became  a  preacher, 
itinerating  until  settled  again  in  Bedford,  and  continuing 
in  that  calling  until  his  death  in  1688. 

In  his  preparation  for  preaching  his  only  teacher 
seemed  to  have  been  the  Holy  Ghost  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  Scriptures,  so  that  his  preaching  was 
both  scriptural  and  spiritual.  His  very  imagination, 
which  was  that  of  a  man  of  the  highest  creative  genius, 
worked  through  the  imagery  and  the  language  of  the 
sacred  writings.  His  preaching  was  what  might  be 
termed,  almost  more  than  that  of  any  other  modern 
preacher,  inspirational  preaching,  or  prophesying,  in  the 
New  Testament  sense  of  the  word.  He  did  not  care 
to  meddle  much  with  things  controverted,  or  with  specu- 
lative theology,  but  spoke  directly  to  the  spiritual  na- 
ture. His  preaching  seems  to  have  been  characterized 
by  four  things  in  especial  :  i.  Faithfulness  to  the  con- 
science. His  sermons  had  an  awakening  power  to 
the  sinfully  dead  conscience,  like  that  of  the  prophets, 
as  is  especially  seen  in  his  famous  "  Jerusalem  ser- 
mon." His  "'Grace  Abounding  to  the  Chief  of  Sin- 
ners" is  much  in  the  style  of  his  ordinary  preaching. 
He  said  of  his  own  preaching  :  "  I  did  labor  to  preach  the 
word  so  that  thereby,  if  it  were  possible,  the  sin  and  the 
guilty  person  might  be  particularized  by  it."  He  roused 
the  impenitent  man  to  a  lively  sense  of  personal  respon- 
sibility. 2.  Intense  solicitude  to  v.'in  souls.  "  I  thank 
God,"  he  said,  "  that  my  heart  hath  often,  all  the  time  of 
this  exercise,  cried  to  God  with  great  earnestness,  that  he 
would  make  the  word  effectual  to  the  salvation  of  souls." 
Bunyan,    like  Baxter,   is    one    of  those  not  common  in 


204  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

the  long  bead-roll  of  great  preachers,  whose  whole  aim 
seemed  to  be  to  save  the  souls  of  men  from  the  grasp  and 
curse  of  sin  by  the  power  of  the  gospel.  He  had  no  other 
object  set  before  him  than  this.  3.  Strong  faith  in  the 
power  of  the  gospel.  "I  have  been  in  my  preaching," 
he  writes,  "  especially  when  I  have  been  engaged  in  the 
doctrine  and  life  of  Christ,  in  that  work,  as  if  an  angel  of 
God  had  stood  at  my  back  to  encourage  me  ;  oh,  it  hath 
been  with  such  power  and  heavenly  evidence  upon  my 
own  soul,  while  I  have  been  laboring  to  unfold  it,  to 
demonstrate  it,  to  fasten  it  upon  the  consciences  of  others 
— that  I  could  not  be  contented  with  saying  '  I  believe 
and  am  sure  ' — methought  I  was  more  than  sure  that 
these  things  which  I  then  asserted  were  true."  4.  His 
preaching  was  accompanied  with  earnest  heart  strivings 
and  prayer.  He  says  :  "  I  have  observed  that  when  I  had  a 
work  to  do  for  good,  I  have  had  first,  as  it  were,  a  going 
to  God  upon  my  spirit,  to  desire  I  might  preach  there.  I 
have  also  observed  that  such  and  such  souls,  in  particu- 
lar, have  been  strongly  set  upon  my  heart,  so  I  was  stirred 
up  to  work  for  their  salvation  ;  and  that  these  very  souls 
have,  after  this,  been  given  as  the  fruits  of  my  ministry. " 
Again  :  "I  have  observed  that  a  word  cast  in  by  the  bye 
hath  done  more  execution  in  a  sermon  than  all  that  was 
spoken  besides." 

Bunyan's  view  of  preaching  had  a  charm  for  the  poor. 
There  was  often  something  of  the  same  limpid  quality  of 
style  that  is  to  be  seen  in  his  "  Pilgrim's  Progress  ;"  but 
it  was  no  longer  a  vision,  a  dream,  but  it  had  the  power, 
and  sometimes  the  terrible  power,  of  a  living  word,  cast 
like  a  thunderbolt  upon  the  sleeping  conscience. 

In  the  following,  or  eighteenth  century,  although 
preaching  in  England  was  characterized  by  less  of 
richness,   originality,   and   spontaneity  than    in  the  for- 


HISTORY  OF   PREACIIIXG.  Co 5 

mcr  century  of  great  divines,  there  were,  notwithstand- 
ing their  deficiencies    in    scholarly  breadth 
of  view,  some  effective  and  faithful   preach-       English 

ers,    who    preserved    the    spiritual    tone    of  ;      .  , 

^  the  eighteenth 

the  English  pulpit  ;  such  men  as  John  New-       century 

ton,  Thomas  Scott,  Drs.  Watts  and  Dod- 
dridge, Cecil,  Charles  Simeon,  John  Wesley,  and  George 
Whitefield.  These  last  two  (of  whom  we  shall  speak 
more  particularly  soon)  stirred  the  stagnant  atmosphere 
far  beyond  any  power  of  mere  human  eloquence,  and 
their  influence  is  felt  to  this  day  in  England,  America, 
and  the  world.  Whitefield  was  an  accomplished  rhetori- 
cian and  finished  pulpit  orator,  but  it  was  his  intense 
earnestness,  his  desire  to  save  men,  his  power  of  emotion 
and  sympathy,  his  plain,  pointed,  rousing  appeals  to  the 
heart  and  conscience,  rather  than  his  intellectual  force  or 
weight  of  thought,  which  constituted  his  real  power. 

There  was  also,  in   this  age,  a  school  of  sound,  intel- 
lectual, and  philosophic  though  somewhat  cold  preachers, 

represented  by  such  men  as  Cudworth  (be- 

,  .  ,.     ,  ,.  .     ,N  rr-M     Philosophical 

longmg    to   a    little     earlier    period),  1  il-  . 

°     °  r  ji  preachers. 

lotson,  Stillingfleet,  Lloyd,   Seeker,   Bishop 

Butler  (the  last  the  prince  of  reasoners)  ;  and  these  were 

followed    by  another  school   (their  lineal   successors)   of 

still  more  polished  but  less  earnest  preachers,  represented 

by   Clarke,  Sherlock,   Atterbury,  Blair,    Paley,  and    men 

of  that   class,  who  might    be    characterized 

,        ..  ,  ,,  .     ,        ,     T-       1-  1     Moral-essay 

as    the       moral-essay       period     of     English     preachers 

preaching— correct,  elegant,  and  (spiritually 

speaking)    shallow.       These    eighteenth-centur}^    divines 

represented,  on  the  whole,  a  period  of  dulness,  or  rather 

superficiality  in  the  pulpit. 

Dr.  Samuel  Clarke  Avas  the   exponent   of  a  theology 

that,  while  it  embodied  some  of  the  better  thinking  and 


2o6  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

even  higher  philosophy  of  the  time,  and  was  serviceable 

as  an  antidote  to  infidelity,  was  nevertheless 
Dr.  Clarke.         ,  .    .  ,  ,  .  , 

a  frigid  system    of   reasoning,   pretty  much 

on  a  plane  with  the  Cartesian   philosophy  that  then  pre- 
vailed, and  seemed  to  have  little  conception  of  the  pro- 
founder  spiritual  character  of    Christian    faith.       Dean 
Sherlock  was  the  best  of  this  class  of  preach- 

-,,     ,    ,       ers,  and  he  sometimes  rose  to  something  like 
Sherlock.  '  ** 

eloquence.  Sherlock's  sermons  are  worthy 
of  study  for  their  clear  method  and  their  finished  style,  but 
they  lack  the  Pauline  elements  of  preaching.     Atterbury, 

too.  Bishop  of  Rochester,  attracted  the  at- 
Atterbury.  ^ 

tention  of  Pope  and  Swift  by  the  controver- 
sial Hveliness  of  his  pulpit  style,  yet  there  is  not  much  in 
his  sermons  that  shows  that  he  really  understood  what 

the  sospel  is.    It  was  a  time  of  the  winter  of 
Blair.  ^     ^  ,  , 

faith,  and  Blair,  barren  and  utterly  common- 
place as  his  sermons  were,  attracted  more  attention  than 
he  deserved,  from  the  fact  that  there  seemed  to  be  the 
faintest  reflection  of  evangelical  truth  playing  about  the 
surface  of  his  smooth  and  graceful  pulpit-essays.  Indeed, 
at  the  time  of  the  rise  of  the  Methodist  Reformation 
there  were  but  few  earnest  and  evangelical  preachers  in 
all  England.  It  was  a  time  not  only  when  "  dulness  was 
sacred  in  a  sound  divine,"  but  when  sound  divines  were 
rare.  It  is  related  of  the  celebrated  Blackstone,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  reign  of  George  III.,  that  he  went  dili- 
gently through  the  churches  of  London,  and  declared 
that  "  he  did  not  hear  a  single  discourse  which  had  more 
Christianity  in  it  than  the  writings  of  Cicero,  and  that  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  discover,  from 
what  he  heard,  whether  the  preacher  was  a  follower  of 
Confucius,  of  Mohammed,  or  of  Christ." 

We  spoke   of    the  rise  of  the  great  Methodist    move- 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  2°? 

ment  ;  and  this  remark  should  not  go  by  without  our 
dwelHng,  more  particularly  than  has  been  done,  upon  the 
two  prime  leaders,  under  God,  of  that  wonderful  move- 
ment, who  were  themselves  remarkable  preachers,  and 
who  illustrate  some  important,  perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant, qualities  of  preaching— Wesley  and  White- 
field. 

John  Wesley  was  born  in  1703  arid  died  in   1791,  hav- 
ing reached  the  age  of  eighty-eight  years.     This  magnifi- 
cent patriarchal   life  was  rounded   out  and 
filled    with    great    activities    and    great    im-  John  Wesley, 
pulses,  that  made  him  a  kind  of  "  father  of 
the  faithful"  of  a  multitudinous  family  of  disciples,  who 
have  spread  over   English-speaking  lands,  and,    in  fact, 
over   the   world.     The    Oxford    student    life  of   Wesley 
formed  the  beginning  of  his  religious  career,  which  is  said 
to  have  received  its  first  impulse,   instrumentally,  from 
his    intercourse    with    John    Law,    the    author    of    the     ^Vz/Z/'^ 
"  Serious  Call."     He  also  early  felt  the  influence  of  the 
principles   of   the    Moravian    brotherhood,  especially   in 
their  evangelizing  or  missionary  zeal.     But  he  was  him- 
self a  spiritual  reformer  who  sprang  out  of  the  depths  of 
religious  declension  in  England  and  the  English  Church. 
He  did  not,  certainly  at  first,  perhaps  never,   intend  to 
be  the  founder  of  a  sect  which  should  separate  itself  from 
the  English  Established  Church  ;  but  as  he  was  not  re- 
ceived and  recognized  by  that  church  he  of  necessity  came 
outof  it— that  is,  essentially  if  not  formally,  as  did  the  Pu- 
ritans in  the  previous   century.      In  1740  the  breach  be- 
tween Wesley  and  Whitefield  occurred  which  divided  the 
Methodist  Church  into  two    parties,  the    Arminian  and 
Calvinistic  ;  but   Wesley  continued   to  be  the  head  and 
soul  of  the  body,  above  all  in  England,  so  that  one  writer 
has  said  of  him  :  *'  Probably  no  man  ever  exerted  so  great 


2o8  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

an  influence  on  the  general  religious  condition  of  the 
people  of  England  as  John  Wesley." 

Wesley  was  absolute  monarch  in  his  own  realm,  and 
out  of  his  organizing  mind  he  moulded  almost  every  feat- 
ure, form,  and  principle  of  the  great  militant  body  that 
recognizes  him  as  its  earthly  spiritual  chief.  He  had  an 
energy  that  was  both  indefatigable  and  systematic.  He 
had  the  governing  element  joined  at  the  same  time  with 
an  unceasing  diligence  and  attention  to  detail — the  organ- 
izing principle  which  went  to  the  minutest  particulars. 
It  is  Wesley's  "  discipline"  which  has  stamped  the 
peculiar  name  and  spirit  upon  what  is  termed  Method- 
ism, or  the  Methodist  Church.  With  his  genius  for 
order  he  built  up  a  system  of  religious  rules,  and  a  sys- 
tem or  society  of  religious  discipleship  that  equals,  and 
surpasses  in  its  merely  outward  features  and  organization, 
Loyola's  famous  "  Society  of  Jesus,"  while  it  has  in- 
finitely more  of  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus.  But  his 
great  secret  of  success  was  his  desire  to  save  the  souls  of 
men,  and  the  doctrine  of  individual  accountability  which 
he  revived  in  its  primitive  force  in  the  minds  of  men 
deadened  by  form  and  worldliness.  It  was,  in  the  words 
of  Isaac  Taylor,  the  awakening  "  sense  of  an  immortal 
and  guilty  spirit  coming  into  the  presence  of  eternal  jus- 
tice." He  spoke  in  plain,  pungent,  rousing  language  to 
the  sleeping  conscience.  He  addressed  it  without  cir- 
cumlocution or  apology — as  he  said  on  one  occasion  : 
"  We  are  poor  and  suffering  because  you  impiously  refuse 
to  help.  Ye  are  the  men,  some  of  the  chief  men,  who 
continually  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  in  a  great  measure 
stop  his  gracious  influences  from  descending  upon  our 
assemblies." 

Wesley  had  not,  strictly  speaking,  a  philosophical 
mind,  or  a  mind  of  the  most  profoundly  comprehensive 


HISTORY   OF  PREACJIIXG.  209 

grasp  ;  but  he  had  a  powerful  instinct  of  divine  truth,  an 
energy  of  intuitive  reason  in  religious  things,  and  a  wonder- 
fully practical  style  of  didactic  address,  lie  was  intended, 
in  every  fibre  of  his  being,  for  a  reformer,  more  perhaps 
than  for  the  founder  of  a  broad  apostolic  church  ;  indeed, 
no  man  is  equal  to  this,  and  in  this  we  have  no  Master 
and  Teacher  other  than  Christ.  But  while  Wesley  had 
his  acknowledged  faults  of  over-regulating,  of  over-organ- 
izing, of  dogmatism,  yet  he  led  the  Church  of  Christ  out  of 
the  captivity  and  the  barren  desert  into  a  new  region  of 
spiritual  life  and  action.  He  too  was  a  spiritual  preacher 
who  sought  for  the  conversion  of  men  to  Christ,  and 
his  kingdom  of  faith.  He  preached,  with  the  earnest- 
ness of  intense  conviction,  the  full,  free,  and  sovereign 
grace  of  God  in  the  salvation  of  every  soul  that  would 
trust  itself  to  it  for  eternal  life.  He  blew  again  the  gos- 
pel trumpet  and  rallied  the  hosts  of  God  to  hope  and 
faith  and  a  new  life.  His  style  of  preaching  was  clear  and 
flowing,  and  more  calm  and  orderly  than  that  of  White- 
field.  He  was  a  man  of  logical  and  literary  culture,  and 
did  not  despise  learning.  His  agreeable  manners,  unas- 
.suming  dignity  and  authority,  and  his  saintly  simplicity 
of  life  aided  his  power  as  a  preacher.  He  had  also  apos- 
tolic courage  which  defied  the  shouts,  threats,  and  blows 
of  infuriated  mobs  ;  and  before  he  called  men  to  lead  a 
life  of  sacrifice  he  had  himself  given  his  own  life  to 
Jesus  Christ  by  an  entire  self-surrender. 

W^esley's  sermons  are  short,  pithy,  clearly-arranged, 
pointed,  and  v&xy  plain  in  style.  Among  his  best  ser- 
mons, though  by  no  means  the  best,  are  "  The  Great 
Assize,"  Rom.  14  :  10  :  "  We  shall  all  stand  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  Christ"  ;  "  The  Marks  of  the  New 
Birth,"  John  3:8:  "  So  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the 
Spirit";    "  Free  Grace,"  Rom.  8  :  32  :   "  He  that  spared 


2IO  nOMILETICS    PROPER. 

not  his  own  son,"  etc.  ;  "A  Call  to  Backsliders,"  Ps. 
77  :  7,  8  :  "  Will  the  Lord  cast  off  forever?  and  will  he 
be  favorable  no  more  ?  Is  his  mercy  clean  gone  forever  ? 
Doth  his  promise  fail  forevermore  ?"  The  character  of  his 
sermons  could  not  be  better  given  than  in  his  own  words 
in  the  introduction  to  his  published  discourses.  You  there 
read  the  man  and  his  philosophy  of  preaching  the  gospel. 
George  Whitefield  was  eleven  years  younger  than  Wes- 
ley, and  was  born  in  17 14,  and  died  in  Newburyport, 
Mass.,    in    1770,    twenty   years   before    the 

George       dg^th  of  Wesley.      He  was  attracted,  while 
Whitefield.  ,  i.    r      .      .         ^ 

a  student  at  Oxford,  by  the  peculiar  re- 
ligious system  which  afterward  developed  itself  into 
Methodism,  and  that  had  been  originated  by  the  Wes- 
leys  a  few  years  before.  He  became  a  preacher  and  was 
admitted  to  holy  orders  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  led  to 
it  both  by  his  elocutionary  gifts  and  his  earnest  religious 
convictions,  delivering  his  first  sermon  with  great  effect 
in  Gloucester  cathedral.  It  is  even  said  that  "persons 
were  driven  mad  with  fear  under  his  impassioned 
oratory."  He  soon  commenced  that  career  of  revival 
preaching  which  swept  over  England  and  America  like 
the  sword  of  a  destroying  angel — destroying  to  heal. 

"  A  homeless  pilgrim,  with  dubious  name 
Blown  about  on  the  wings  of  fame  ; 
Now  as  an  angel  of  blessing  classed, 
And  now  as  a  mad  enthusiast. 
Called  in  his  youth  to  sound  and  gauge 
The  moral  lapse  of  his  race  and  age. 
And,  sharp  as  truth,  the  contrast  draw 
Of  human  frailty  and  perfect  law  ; 
Possessed  by  the  one  dread  thought  that  lent 
Its  goad  to  his  fiery  temperament, 
Up  and  down  the  world  he  went, 
A  John  the  Baptist  crying — Repent  !"  ' 


'  Whittier's  Poems.    Fields  &  Osgood's  ed.,  1S69,  v.  ii.  p.  390. 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  211 

All  kinds  of  men  were  moved  by  him  ;  the  distinc- 
tions of  class  were  forgotten  ;  and  though  intellectual 
men  like  Bolingbroke  and  Franklin  saw  his  inferiority 
in  some  of  the  rarer  qualities  of  the  intellect,  yet 
they  all  acknowledged  him  to  be  a  true  ambassador 
of  God.  Whiteficld  is  generally  held  to  have  been 
a  preacher  who  spoke  to  the  feelings  almost  exclu- 
sively, and  whose  great  power  consisted  in  his  emo- 
tional style  of  address.  This  is  partly  true,  but  it  does 
not  go  deep  enough,  and  may  do  injustice  to  White- 
field  as  a  preacher.  His  power  consisted  of  something 
more  than  ephemeral  feeling — it  was  the  earnestness  of 
a  heart-conviction  that  sinners  were  perishing,  and  that 
the  gospel  alone  could  help  them.  It  was  a  burning 
passion  for  souls  that  consumed  him,  and  gave  him  as 
a  preacher  that  spirituality,  that  solemnity,  vehemence, 
and  pathos,  that  awakening  and  convicting  force,  that 
made  him  even  greater  than  Wesley  or  most  other  preach- 
ers in  his  immediate  influence  over  the  souls  of  men.  If 
he  now  and  then  gave  way  to  his  emotions  and  wept  in 
the  pulpit,  this  was  a  true  emotion,  and  it  was  as  true  to 
the  laws  of  mind  as  was  Wesley's  logic.  He  himself  felt 
with  overwhelming  consciousness  the  truth  of  what  he 
spoke,  which  is  a  familiar  canon  of  eloquence.  This  con- 
ceptual faculty  as  related  to  the  objects  of  spiritual  life, 
— this  power  of  bodying  forth  in  vivid  form  the  eternal 
world,  this  spiritual  and  creative  attribute  of  the  imagi- 
nation— gave  Whitefield  a  freshness  and  vigor  of  style 
which  never  lost  its  hold  upon  men's  minds.  He  was 
an  indefatigable  laborer.  He  crossed  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
seven  times,  the  last  in  his  fifty-fifth  year,  and  he  always 
found  great  audiences,  whole  cities  and  towns  thronging 
to  hear  him  with  unabated  enthusiasm  and  interest. 
Crowds  wept    under  his   orator\',  each   man    for  himself, 


212  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

and  for  his  own  sins.  He  laid  his  hand  boldly  upon  the 
moral  consciousness.  He  applied  the  gospel  to  the 
hearts  and  wants  of  men.  He  wrought  upon  the  moral 
nature  with  the  higher  forces  of  the  gospel,  and  awakened 
new  belief  in  the  Christian  faith  by  the  simplicity  and 
amplitude  of  his  perceptions  of  divine  truth — of  the 
abounding  grace  of  God  in  Christ. 

Whitefield  did  not  possess  the  ratiocinative  faculty, 
nor  perhaps  even  the  imaginative  faculty  in  the  highest 
sense.  His  sermons  were  not  distinguished  for  logical  or 
profound  thought.  They  were  inartificial,  conversational, 
and  dramatic,  somewhat  diffuse  and  stereotyped  in  their 
language,  with  a  spirit  of  vivacious  exaggeration  ;  but 
nevertheless  they  were  powerful.  He  was  a  master  of 
elocution,  and  was  both  graceful  and  solemn  in  delivery. 
He  was  meek  and  patient  under  rebuke  and  persecution, 
endured  revilings,  bringing  the  world's  bitter  hatred 
upon  him,  but  forgiving  injuries  Avith  the  spirit  of  a 
Christian.  He  had  the  hero  in  him,  and  wherever  he 
was  wanted  or  felt  that  he  and  truth  would  be  most  op- 
posed, there  he  went,  manifesting  a  Pauline  grandeur  of 
moral  courage  with  a  Pauline  modesty  and  absence  of 
self-display.  The  gospel,  in  a  word,  had  renewed  and 
potentialized  a  simple-hearted  man,  who  gave  all  he  had 
of  m.ind,  feeling,  and  energy,  whether  of  greater  or  less 
compass,  to  the  Saviour  whom  he  served.  There  was 
therefore  in  him  a  power  extraneous  to  natural  gifts,  a 
power  from  God.  His  popularity  never  waned,  for  it  was 
fed  from  a  higher  spring. 

Nearer  to  our  own  day,  toward  the  beginning  of  the 
Modern  present  century,  arose  in  England  a  class  of 
English       preachers  of  more    true  depth,  both  philo- 

preachers.  sophical  and  religious,  than  had  preceded 
them,  such  as  Robert  Hall,  Andrew  Fuller,  John  Foster, 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  213 

and  their  great  Scotch  contemporaries,  Edward  Irving 
and  Thomas  Chahners.  We  will  say  a  few  words  concern- 
ing Robert  Hall  and  Thomas  Chalmers. 

Robert  Hall  was  born  in    1764.      In  his  childhood  and 
youth  he  was  feeble  in  body,  but  exhibited,  like   Pascal, 

remarkable  intellectual  precociousness.      He 

.  Robert  Hall, 

was  a  classmate  and   friend  of  Mackintosh, 

the  historian  in  Aberdeen  College.  When  these  two 
walked  together  the  collegians  would  say:  "There  go 
Plato  and  Herodotus."  He  commenced  preaching  in 
a  Baptist  church  at  Bristol,  exhibiting  decided  ora- 
torical power  ;  but  his  fame  as  a  preacher  culminated 
when  he  went,  in  1790,  to  Cambridge.  He  finished, 
also,  his  ministerial  life  in  Bristol,  where  the  little 
old  chapel  at  Broadmead,  in  which  he  preached,  and 
his  pulpit  bound  together  with  iron  clamps  to  pre- 
serve it,  are  still  to  be  seen,  quite  unchanged.  His 
occasional  writings,  such  as  "  The  Apology  for  the  Free- 
dom of  the  Press;"  his  controversial  tracts  on  political 
and  moral  questions  ;  his  sermon  on  "  The  Death  of 
the  Princess  Charlotte,"  and  his  discourse  on  "  Modern 
Infidelity,"  gave  him  a  more  than  local  fame,  and  made 
him  known  as  one  of  the  eloquent  men  of  his  times. 
After  enduring  intense  sufferings  all  his  life  from  an 
acute  disease,  which  was  heightened  by  the  exercise  of 
preaching,  and  compelled  him  often  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  service  to  retire  to  his  room  in  the  church  and  fairly 
writhe  in  agony,  he  died  in  1831.  Notwithstanding  his 
physical  weakness  and  suffering,  he  was  full  of  wit,  sar- 
casm, and  playful  good-humor.  He  was  brilliant  in  con- 
versation. He  had  genuine  nobleness  and  magnanimity 
of  character,  meeting  sectarian  attacks  with  equanimity, 
and  showing  much  humility  of  spirit  whenever  his  natu- 
rally fiery  nature  got  the  better  of  him.      He  had  immense 


2  14  JIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

power  of  moral  indignation  against  untruth,  meanness, 
and  mean  expediency.  He  lived  in  contact  with  public 
questions,  and  was  fully  awake  to  the  influence  of  public 
opinion  upon  morality  and  religion.  His  sermons  and 
writings,  like  Robert  South 's,  are  worthy  of  our  study  as 
a  treasury  of  theological  and  moral  reasoning,  and  also 
for  their  eloquent  rhetoric.  His  "  Christianity  Consis- 
tent with  a  Love  of  Freedom"  is,  in  some  respects,  a  very 
fine  piece  of  writing.  His  discourse  on  "  Modern  Infi- 
delity Considered  with  Reference  to  its  Influence  on 
Society"  was  for  its  day  a  most  effective  treatise,  abound- 
ing with  thought  and  splendor  of  imagery,  though  it 
would  not  meet  the  sceptical  wants  of  this  day,  as  an 
apology  for  Christianity.  But  his  more  ordinary  sermons, 
such  as  "  God  in  Concealing,"  "The  Lamb  of  God," 
"Spirituality  of  the  Divine  Nature,"  "The  Joy  of 
Angels  over  a  Repenting  Sinner,"  "  Of  Evil  Communi- 
cations," are  noble  sermons  for  study. 
As  a  preacher  his  characteristics  were 

1.  The  force  and  weight  of  his  mind.  His  very  appear- 
ance in  the  pulpit  was  formidable,  from  *his  personal  and 
mental  traits.  He  looked  the  great  man.  He  was  really 
one  of  the  great  minds  of  his  age — a  mind  at  once  of  capa- 
cious philosophic  grasp  and  of  penetrative  analytic  force. 
He  has  indeed  been  compared  to  his  contemporary, 
Edmund  Burke,  in  the  volume  of  his  intellectual  power. 

2.  The  splendor  as  well  as  precision  of  his  language. 
His  brilliance  of  imagination  was  a  marked  quality,  and 
shone  through  the  forms  into  which  his  thought  was  cast. 
Some  of  his  illustrations  are  as  magnificent  as  anything 
in  Burke's  writings,  though  his  imagination  w^as  more 
chastened  than  Burke's.  There  was  a  tendency  to  the 
oratorical  climax,  his  thought  expanding  as  it  grew,  yet 
never  becoming  vague  or  confused. 


in  STORY   OF  PREACinNG.  215 

3.  Power  of  abstract  thought  and  reasoning.  He  had 
"  much  of  the  essence  and  effect  of  reasoning  without  its 
technical  logical  forms."  He  became  absorbed  in  the 
subject,  in  the  idea,  and  Avas  borne  along  by  it  rather 
than  by  mere  methods  of  discussion  and  division.  In 
fact  his  sermons,  while  clear,  are  inartificial  in  respect  of 
division.  He  was  a  great  extemporaneous  preacher,  his 
discourses  that  are  left  to  us  having  been  either  taken 
down  short-hand  or  written  out  afterward  with  im- 
mense trouble,  for  writing  was  to  him  a  physical  martyr- 
dom. In  preaching,  so  great  was  the  absorption  in  the 
theme  that  the  preacher  was  not  only  forgotten,  but 
sometimes  the  audience  ;  and  this  leads  me  to  speak  of 
one  or  two  faults  of  Robert  Hall's  preaching  : 

1.  His  undue  tendency  to  abstraction  and  generaliza- 
tion. He  sometimes  worked,  as  the  expression  is,  "  in 
fire  as  well  as  frost,"  but  as  a  general  rule  in  frost.  He 
dwelt  in  this  cold,  abstract  atmosphere,  and  did  not 
treat  the  truth  so  much  as  a  message  to  men  as  a  subject 
of  reasoning  ;  he  did  not  bring  down  his  thought  to  the 
minds  and  wants  of  his  hearers.  It  was  like  watching 
the  soarings  and  circlings  of  an  eagle.  He  did  not  indi- 
vidualize and  particularize.  He  was  interested  in  the 
theme  apparently  more  than  in  the  audience. 

2.  With  some  magnificent  exceptions,  his  style  was 
lacking  in  vividness,  point,  and  personal  interest.  He 
was  inclined  to  the  use  of  Latin  and  Johnsonian  rather 
than  short  Saxon  words  ;  but  his  style  was  harmonious, 
while  at  the  same  time  strong.  It  has  been  said  of  his 
more  labored  discourses  :  "  His  language  in  (ordinary) 
preaching,  as  in  conversation,  was  better  than  in  his  well- 
known  and  elaborately  composed  sermons,  in  being  more 
natural  and  flexible.  When  he  set  in  reluctantly  upon 
that  employment  (writing),  his  style  was  apt  to  assume 


2l6  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

a  certain  processional  stateliness  of  march,  a  rhetorical 
rounding  of  periods,  a  too  frequent  inversion  of  the 
natural  order  of  the  sentence,  with  a  morbid  dread  of 
degrading  it  to  end  in  a  particle  or  other  small-looking 
word  ;  a  structure  in  which  it  is  to  be  doubted  whether 
the  augmented  appearance  of  strength  and  dignity  be  a 
compensation  for  the  sacrifice  of  a  natural,  living,  and 
variable  freedom  of  composition." 

3.  His  preaching  was  too  purely  intellectual.  He 
was  almost  too  exclusively  the  metaphysician  and  the 
rhetorician,  and  not  the  simple  preacher  trusting  in 
Christ  and  the  Scriptures  of  divine  truth  for  the  conver- 
sion of  sinful  souls.  He  generalized  rather  than  indi- 
vidualized truth.  His  prayers,  though  devotional,  were 
exceedingly  vague,  abstract,  and  pointless.  His  the- 
ology might  be  called  that  of  moderate  Calvinism,  with 
some  tendency  to  a  stricter  Calvinism.  He  addressed 
men  as  rational  beings,  appealing  freely  to  every  motive 
which  might  influence  their  minds,  though  with  utter 
avoidance  of  the  doctrine  of  free-will  in  the  Arminian 
sense,  which  was  opposed  to  his  theology. 

Thomas   Chalmers  was  born  in    1780,  in    Anstruther, 

Fifeshire,   Scotland  ;  was  educated   at  the  University  of 

St.  Andrews,  and  after  having  been  licensed 

^,    .  to  preach  at  the  age  of   nineteen,  his  first 

Chalmers.  ^  ^  ' 

settlement   was   at    Kilmany,    where,    it  is 

said,  his  attention  was  mostly  directed  to  scientific  pur- 
suits and  mathematics  ;  and  here,  it  is  related,  occurred 
that  change  in  his  religious  character  which  had  such  a 
powerful  effect  upon  his  whole  life  and  preaching.  Be- 
fore this,  to  use  his  own  language,  "he  walked  among 
the  elements  of  inconstancy  and  distrust."  His  sermons, 
before  this  period,  were  written  hastily,  and  as  a  perfunc- 
tory duty,  but  after  that  they  became  "  the  spontaneous 


HISTORY  OF  PREACIinVG.  217 

productions  of  the  new  spirit  of  love  and  zeal."  His 
study  of  the  Bible  became  intense.  A  friend  remarked 
to  him  about  that  time  :  "  I  never  came  in  before  but  I 
found  you  busy,  yet  never  at  your  studies  for  the  Sab- 
bath. You  said,  '  Oh,  an  hour  or  two  Saturday  evening 
is  quite  enough  for  that  ;  '  but  now  I  never  come  in  but 
you  are  at  your  Bible."  In  1815,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
five,  he  was  transferred  to  Tron  Church,  Glasgow,  where 
his  fame  as  a  pulpit  orator  was  soon  established,  and  the 
immense  influence  he  gained  over  the  people  was  em- 
ployed by  him  in  the  furtherance  of  works  of  beneficence 
truly  grand  and  original  in  their  conception.  He  united 
the  preacher  and  the  pastor  in  a  wonderful  combination. 
His  labors  produced  a  reformation  in  the  care  and  edu- 
cation of  the  poor  in  that  great  city  worthy  of  the  study 
of  every  pastor,  reformer,  and  political  economist.  His 
own  parish  consisted  of  11,000  souls,  who  were  divided 
into  twenty-five  parochial  districts,  and  over  the  whole  of 
this  complex  system  of  religious,  benevolent,  and  educa- 
tional training  of  the  people  he  watched  and  presided 
with  the  utmost  vigilance,  visiting,  it  is  said,  all  the  two 
thousand  families  of  his  parish. 

In  1823  he  was  made  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  at 
St.  Andrews,  and  the  following  year,  of  Theology,  at 
Edinburgh.  He  is  generally  reckoned  to  have  made  some 
original  contributions  to  ethical  science.  The  leading 
part  that  he  took  in  the  great  Free  Church  movement, 
when  four  hundred  and  seventy  ministers  withdrew  from 
the  Established  Church  of  Scotland,  is  a  familiar  history. 
He  died  in  1847. 

We  can  only  notice  him,  and  that  in  a  brief  way,  as  a 
preacher.  After  the  profound  change  in  his  religious 
character  his  preaching  became  of  a  most  practical  na- 
ture.   He  aimed  at  the  immediate  spiritual  renewal  of  his 


2i8  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

hearers.  Nothing  else  satisfied  him.  He  labored  for 
this  object  with  such  earnestness  and  such  a  concentra- 
tion of  his  powers  "as  to  idle  spectators  looked  like 
insanity."  This,  however,  made  him  a  power  with  the 
people  ;  not  only  his  Sunday  services,  but  his  Thursday 
evening  lectures  at  Glasgow  were  thronged  with  eager 
listeners.  In  his  preaching  there  were  the  broad  intel- 
ligible qualities  of  thought,  reason,  and  what  the  Scotch 
call  "  wicht" — perhaps  in  the  end  preferable  to  mere 
magnetism.  He  had  great  energy  as  well  as  scope  of 
illustration,  the  fruit  of  a  powerful  imagination  and  wide 
scientific  knowledge.  His  exuberant  fancy  ranged 
through  nature  and  space  for  its  objects  of  comparison. 
His  features,  like  his  native  hills,  were  rugged,  his  ges- 
tures were  ungraceful,  and  his  tone  and  accentuation 
broadly  Scotch  ;  but  the  individuality,  richness,  and 
sweep  of  his  thought,  together  with  his  simple  earnest- 
ness, made  up  for  all,  and  led  the  polished  Canning  to 
say,  after  hearing  him  in  London,  "  The  tartan  beats  us 
alL" 

His  plan  of  sermon  was  almost  without  plan.  He  had 
few  divisions,  and  the  peculiarity  of  this  mode  of  thought 
was  this,  that  a  sermon  contained,  as  a  general  rule,  but 
one  theme  or  thought,  and  the  development  consisted  of 
the  amplification  of  this  thought  as  from  one  common 
centre,  of  an  unfolding  from  a  point  in  a  circle  to  the 
circumference,  rather  than  a  progression  in  one  straight 
line,  so  that  Robert  Hall  said  that  Chalmers'  mind 
moved  round  like  a  wheel,  turning  upon  a  fixed  point 
instead  of  like  a  wheel  that  rolled  on.  There  was,  in 
fact,  a  development,  an  expansion,  instead  of  a  mechani- 
cal progression.  He  piled  up  sentences  and  illustrations 
about  a  central  thought  or  proposition  till  it  stood  in 
pyramidal  proportions.     His  style  had  violent  faults  as 


HISTORY  OF  PREACH IKG.  219 

well  as  vivid  beauties.  This  very  tendency  to  amplifica- 
tion led  to  turgidity  of  style,  to  verboseness  in  the  em- 
ployment of  words,  and  to  enormously  long  sentences. 
One  of  his  sentences,  covering  two  or  three  pages,  has 
four  hundred  words  ;  and  frequently  he  has  sentences 
containing  two  hundred  and  three  hundred  words,  mak- 
ing what  one  has  called  the  unique  and  ponderous 
"  Chalmerian  period." 

He  also  uses  hugely  pedantic  and  uncouth  words — a 
cumbrous  theological  and  scientific  phraseology — like 
"  vesicular  properties,"  "  afferent  and  efferent  vessels," 
"unbridled  appetency,"  "the  alone  Saviour  of  man- 
kind," "  to  effectuate  an  object  of  desire,"  etc.  ;  and  he 
might  almost  be  thought  to  describe  himself  in  a  sentence 
like  this  :  "  He  just  put  forth  the  evolutions  of  his  own 
nature  as  one  of  the  component  individuals  in  a  vast  and 
independent  system."  But  all  this  was  nothing  :  it  even 
added,  like  his  peculiar  gesture  and  voice,  to  his  indi- 
viduality. His  disciplined  and  abounding  thought,  his 
large  and  quick  sympathy,  his  spontaneity  that  allowed 
no  unreal  or  artificial  utterance,  his  genuine  manhood, 
his  simple  piety  pleading,  as  he  said,  for  "  the  crown 
rights  of  King  Immanuel,"  his  glowing  eloquence,  like 
Ezekiel's  vision  of  wheels  within  wheels  of  living  crea- 
tures, mastered  audiences  and  swept  before  him  all  obsta- 
cles. With  this  eloquence  that  belonged  to  the  man 
there  was  added  the  sanctified  power  of  the  true  preacher 
of  the  gospel — ever  setting  forth  Christ  as  the  one 
object  of  faith,  as  "  the  propitiation,  the  sanctifier,  the 
hope  of  glory,  the  all  in  all"  of  believing  souls.  Thus 
his  ministry,  having  in  it  the  evangelic  element,  was  suc- 
cessful in  the  conversion  of  souls.  Here  he  was  superior 
to  Robert  Hall.  He  loved  to  pile  up  a  great  argument, 
as  in  his  "astronomical  discourses,"  but  even  to   these 


2  20  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

argumentative  discourses  he  managed  to  give  a  practical 
and  conscience-searching  turn  ;  and  in  his  ethical  ser- 
mons, in  which  his  preaching  abounded,  and  in  which  he 
brought  to  bear  his  tremendous  power  of  invective  and 
plain-speaking  upon  the  covetousness  of  the  business 
world  in  the  large  cities,  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  prin- 
ciple that  "  to  preach  Christ  is  the  only  effective  way  of 
preaching  morality  in  all  its  branches  ;  and  not  until 
Christ  had  been  pressed  upon  the  acceptance  of  his  hear- 
ers did  he  urge  subordinate  reformation  of  conduct  and 
character."  The  crowds  at  his  commercial  lectures  in 
Glasgow,  it  is  said,  would  sometimes  go  away  uttering 
curses  both  loud  and  deep  against  the  preacher,  but 
would  be  sure  to  be  again  present  at  the  succeeding 
lecture. 

Dr.  Chalmers  made  a  brave  effort  to  become  an  extem- 
poraneous preacher,  seeing  with  his  usual  sagacity  the 
superiority  of  that  method,  but  he  never  succeeded  in 
this  attempt.  His  biographer.  Dr.  Hanna,  says  :  "  He 
could  not  on  the  instant  light  on  words  and  phrases  which 
would  give  adequate  conveyance  to  convictions  so  intense. 
His  thoughts  ran  in  too  great  a  volume  for  words." 

Dr.  Chalmers  put  genuine  labor  into  his  sermons,  and 
thought  that  the  more  labor  a  sermon  had  the  more 
effect  it  would  have. 

But  after  we  have  said  all  this  there  is  one  quality  of 
Dr.  Chalmers  of  which  we  have  neglected  to  speak,  and 
without  which  there  would  be  indeed  a  fatal  omission  and 
blank  in  any  true  characterization  of  his  genius  as  a 
speaker — and  that  is  his  great  heart,  his  power  of  feeling 
and  of  sanctified  affection.  One  writer  who  knew  him 
thoroughly  has  said  of  Dr.  Chalmers  that  "  he  owed  his 
power  to  the  activity  and  quantity  of  his  affections." 
He  had  indeed,  like  Luther,  a  great  nature,  ample  in  all 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  221 

its  proportions  of  reason,  passion,  sensibility,  and  will  ; 
there  was  a  vast  vital  force  in  him  ;  and  when  this  was 
fully  aroused  by  the  truths  which  he  had  preached,  he 
carried  all  before  him  as  a  river  that  inundates  and  sweeps 
its  banks. 

The  British  pulpit  of  our  own  day  has  exhibited  nrrany 
men  of  very  decided   power,  some  of  them  still  in  the 
field,    such   as,  in  the    Established   Church, 
Dr.  Arnold,   Dr.   Pusey,  Archdeacon   Hare, 
Whately,     Trench,      Samuel      Wilberforce,  ^ 

Henry  Melville,  John  Henry  Newman, 
Maurice,  Kingsley,  Mozley,  Dean  Stanley,  H.  P.  Lid- 
don,  and  that  matchless  sermonizer  F.  W.  Robertson  ; 
among  dissenters,  John  Angell  James,  Dr.  Raffles, 
Baptist  Noel,  Edward  Irving,  McCheyne,  Caird,  Guthrie, 
Candlish,  and  Norman  McLeod  ;  Thomas  Binney,  Alex- 
ander Raleigh,  and  Charles  Spurgeon. 

Before  leaving    the  British  pulpit  we  would  speak  a 

few  words  concerning  F.  W.  Robertson.     Hugh  Miller, 

the    Scotch    geologist,    had    exceedingly    high    ideas    of 

the    Christian    ministry,   commonly    saying    that    "  true 

ministers  cannot  be  made  out    of  ordinary 

J     ,  F.  W.  Rob- 

men — men  ordmary    m   talent    and  charac-        ertson 

ten"     F.  W.  Robertson    suits  this   concep- 
tion of  the  eloquent  stone-mason  ;  and  there  was  some- 
thing  too    of    Miller's  stalwart  manhood  in    the  preach- 
er, the  primitive  granite  underneath  his  culture.      They 
were  both  leaders  of  men. 

As  wonderful  as  Robertson's  sermons  are,  his  character 
is  chiefly  to  be  studied,  since  his  sermons  are  but  the 
outgrowth  of  his  interesting  personality.  His  sermons 
could  not  have  been  diff"erent  from  what  they  were — in- 
tellectual, thorough,  philosophic,  expressive  of  the  har- 
monious strength  and  beauty  of  his  soul.     Let  us  then 


222  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

look,  in  the  briefest  possible  manner,  at  the  character  of 
the  man,  and  that  will  be  the  analysis  of  the  character  of 
his  sermons. 

1.  Love  of  nature.  The  aesthetic  principle  that  ran 
through  the  mind  of  Robertson  like  a  vein  of  gold,  ran 
also  through  his  discourses.  His  delight  in  natural 
beauty  imparted  fresh  nature  to  whatever  he  wrote  and 
spoke.  It  was  this  that  took  his  words  out  of  the  plane 
of  ordinary  discourse  and  made  them  full  of  fresh  beauty 
and  power.  His  illustrations  are  those  of  a  keen-sighted 
traveller  who  lets  no  beautiful  object  pass  unnoted,  and 
he  sees,  too,  the  object  with  his  own  eyes,  and  not  with 
the  eyes  of  another  man.  This  is  ever  a  characteristic 
of  genius. 

2.  Culture.  His  rich  and  varied  culture,  both  clas- 
sical and  philosophical,  as  well  in  language  as  in  logic, 
gave  him  the  mastery  of  a  finished  style,  condensed  yet 
delicate,  combining  elegance  and  force.  The  thought 
moulds  the  style,  and  he  speaks  like  a  man  who  has 
ideas  forcing  themselves  into  expression — not  mere  words, 
whether  ideas  be  behind  them  or  not  ;  for  while  he 
has  the  rarest  and  most  finished  power  of  expression, 
his  language  resembling  the  sharply  cut  bas-reliefs 
around  a  Greek  vase  or  entablature,  it  is  the  thought  of  a 
deeply  musing  soul  which  is  prominent.  An  affectation 
of  style,  therefore,  rarely  if  ever  occurs.  We  do  not 
make  beautiful  extracts  from  Robertson's  writings,  but 
we  quote  him  for  his  strong  thoughts  put  into  their  most 
condensed  forms — and  this  is  the  highest  type  of  artistic 
as  well  as  moral  beauty. 

3.  Intense  love  and  realization  of  truth.  He  was  no 
flippant  utterer  of  truth  or  truisms.  What  he  said  about 
Christ  was  a  real  thing  with  him,  and  it  had  come  out  of 
the  white  heat  of  his  mental  conflicts.     This  made  com- 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  223 

mon  truth,  passing  through  the  fiery  alembic  of  his  own 
mind,  new  truth,  gleaming  with  new  lustre.  A  part  of 
his  personality  was  in  it.  It  addressed  itself  to  other 
earnest  and  struggling  minds  with  an  unwonted  power. 

4.  Love  of  humanity.  While,  as  has  been  often  said 
of  him,  he  kept  himself  sternly  from  saying  anything  that 
was  popular,  he  w^as  the  idol  of  the  common  people,  be- 
cause they  saw  the  true  man  and  the  true  lover  of  men  in 
him— a  helper,  guide,  and  champion. 

His  high  culture  did  not  hurt  him  with  the  laboring 
classes,  because  even  more  than  with  Charles  Kingsley 
or  Norman  McLeod,  they  discerned  the  real  manhood 
under  the  scholar's  silken  robes— the  manhood  that 
yearned  to  die  on  some  high  moral  battle-field  for  the 
people.  His  spirit  of  self-abnegation  was  hke  that  of  the 
soldiers  and  martyrs  of  the  primitive  Church. 

5.  Indignant  opposition  against  wrong.  He  had  not 
only  the  moral  sentiment  to  feel  wrong,  but  the  courage 
to  attack  wrong.  He  said  "  to  love  intensely  good  is  to 
hate  intensely  evil."  The  sword  of  his  spirit  was  a  two- 
edged  sw^ord,  cutting  both  ways.  As  no  man  ever  laid 
open  his  own  soul  more  bare  to  the  gaze  of  the  world, 
the  throbbings  of  his  heart  against  meanness  and  tyranny, 
whether  without  or  within  the  Church,  were  painfully 
exposed.  He  could  not  hide  his  feelings,  and  while  this 
candor  caused  him  to  be  idolatrously  loved  and  gave  him 
power  wnth  poor,  suffering  men,  it  also  brought  upon  him 
the  hatred  of  the  powerful  classes  in  society  whose  actions 
and  characters  he  assailed  wdth  such  open  fearlessness. 

6.  Method.  This  rhetorical  quality  of  his  sermons 
flowed  from  his  trained  intellect,  which  could  not  but  be 
orderly  in  all  its  products.  There  is  usually  the  thought- 
ful skill  of  extreme  simplicity  in  the  plan  of  his  sermons- 
He  rarely  has  more  than  three  main  divisions,  and  gen- 


224  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

erally  but  two.  He  extracts  a  definition  of  the  text,  then 
draws  from  it  a  definite  theme — a  deep  theme  going  to 
its  roots  and  not  lying  upon  its  surface.  He  seems  to 
come  at  the  vital  source  of  the  passage  through  patient 
thought  and  fresh  original  exegesis. 

7.  Biblicalness.  While  Robertson  is  doubtless  liberal 
in  his  theology,  and  belongs  to  what  is  called  the 
"  Broad  Church,"  still  he  finds  his  theology  in  the  Bible. 
It  is  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word  biblical  theology,  which 
is  the  only  true  theology.  He  may  err — doubtless  he  does 
in  many  things — but  his  Christianity  is  not  a  Christianity 
of  the  schools,  but  a  Christianity  which  comes  from  the 
study  of  the  New  Testament,  and  which  has  Christ  in  it. 
He  makes  Christ  our  hope,  our  life,  our  model,  our  sal- 
vation. It  is  no  Hamlet  with  Hamlet  left  out.  When 
he  takes  a  text  he  sticks  to  it.  He  does  not  philosophize 
out  of  sight  of  the  text.  The  text  forms  the  material, 
the  impulse,  the  inspiration  of  his  sermon.  His  power 
of  homiletical  impression  is  biblical  rather  than  theo- 
logical. He  is  even  superior  to  Dr.  Bushnell  in  that  re- 
spect, though  they  resemble  each  other  in  this  as  in  many 
other  features. 

8.  Practicalness.  What  Robertson  has  to  say  has 
point  to  it.  It  does  not  expend  itself  in  glittering  gen- 
eralities. His  sermons  abound  in  sentences  of  con- 
densed wisdom  and  of  practical  personal  application. 

9.  Reasonableness.  Robertson  is  an  eminently  rational 
preacher  ;  but  he  is  not  a  rationalist.  His  preaching  is 
based  on  reason,  and  is  a  reaction  from  an  age  of  rigid 
submission  to  creeds.  It  is  reason  baptized  with  a  Chris- 
tian spirit.  Puseyism  was  his  first  intellectual  idolatry, 
•but  he  shattered  his  idol  at  the  bidding  of  reason,  and 
above  all,  of  the  Word  of  God. 

10.  Extempore  ability.      He  was  an  extempore  preach- 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  225 

er,  basing  his  sermons  in  the  thought  rather  than  in  the 
words.  He  rarely  used  more  written  notes  than  could 
be  pencilled  upon  a  visiting  card,  or  scrap  of  paper. 

Robertson  was  not  without  faults  which  should  deter 
us  from  making  him  our  absolute  model  as  a  preacher. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  three  in  especial  : 

1.  Unsettled  theology.  Perhaps  this  very  trait  en- 
deared him  to  thoughtful  doubters,  and  gave  him  claims 
to  their  sympathy,  seeing  he  was  a  sincere  striver  after 
the  truth.  Though  an  independent  thinker  and  sincere 
learner,  his  theological  opinions  shift  about  with  much 
uncertainty,  yet,  it  must  also  be  said,  they  ever  grew 
nearer  to  a  noble  consistency  of  Christian  faith.  But  his 
theology  is  suggestive  rather  than  systematic.  It  is  right 
as  to  the  spirit,  yet  perhaps  not  always  so  as  to  the 
letter. 

2.  Fragmentary  style.  From  his  extemporaneous 
method,  or  from  poor  reporting,  many  of  his  sermons 
come  to  us  in  an  unfinished  state  as  regards  composition. 
Perhaps  this  is  only  an  error  of  transmission,  for  his  style 
in  most  respects  is  about  perfect. 

3.  Morbidness  of  spirit.  This  arose  partly  from  an 
ascetic  tendency  which  he  took  early  from  Tractarianism 
and  partly  from  ill-health,  or  an  extremely  sensitive  and 
overcharged  nervous  organization.  This,  however,  he 
was  overcoming  grandly,  and  growing  healthier  in  spirit 
even  to  the  end,  when  death  gave  him  the  perfect  life. 
Yet  Robertson's  biography  is  a  sad  book  to  read,  though 
highly  ennobling,  as  tracing  the  history  of  a  soul  beating 
its  way  upward  into  the  clearer  light  with  slow  and 
wounded  wing.  Notwithstanding  these  imperfections,  if 
they  be  such,  Robertson  is  worthy  of  our  thorough  study. 
As  a  mere  sermonizer,  in  the  arrangement  and  presenta- 
tion of  his  matter  he  shows  the  rarest  rhetorical  skill,  and 


226  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

while  his  style  is  simple  his  thought  is  profound.  His 
poetic  sense  and  his  spiritual  earnestness  led  him  to  ad- 
dress the  heart  as  well  as  the  head,  both  in  illustrations  and 
appeals.  As  an  interpreter  he  goes  beneath  the  letter  and 
values  the  spirit  more  than  the  form.  Plis  sermons  are 
thrown  into  life-forms  and  are  not  mere  dry  intellectual 
processes.  He  is  a  manly  thinker.  He  is  an  earnest  re- 
ligious teacher.  His  religious  system  might  be  condensed 
into  this  :  that  the  life  of  God  in  us,  as  manifested  in 
Christ,  leads  to  the  sacrifice  of  self  for  God  and  man. 

English  preaching,  it  must  be  said,  has,  generally  speak- 
ing, fallen  into  a  somewhat  narrower  range  of  ideas,  and 
does  not  appear  to  have  the  ample  freedom,  profound 
depth,  solid  thought,  or  literary  splendor  of  its  earlier 
days,  being  too  often  intensely  devoted  to  an  ecclesias- 
tical idea  ;  and  if  it  has  aught  remaining  of  the  Puritan 
energy  and  assertion  of  the  free  principle,  it  does  not 
always  possess  the  corresponding  spirituality  of  tone. 
There  are,  however,  in  all  the  various  bodies  of  the  Eng- 
lish religious  world,  many  preachers  of  great  learning  and 
originality,  as  well  as  of  high  earnestness  of  aim,  who  rep- 
resent the  advanced  state  of  religious  thought  in  England. 

Coming  to  America  and  New  England,  we  find  that, 

Avhile  the  first  ministers  w^ere  educated  and 

The  American  able  men,  the  true  leaders  {t)yovpievoi)  of  the 

and  New     people  and  men  of  heroic  martyr-spirit,  their 
England  pul-    ^    ,         ,  ,  .  j  •      i         i     i 

..  style  oi  preachmg  was  exceedmgly  scholas- 

tic, owing,  perhaps,  to  the  fact  that  all  the 
learning  in  the    community  was    confined   to  the  minis- 
terial class  ;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  such  men  as  the 
Christ-like  Eliot,  called  "  the  apostle  to  the 

,  Indians,"    John    Cotton,  Thomas    Hooker, 

preachers.  "^ 

Nathaniel    Ward,   Thomas    Shepard,    John 
Davenport,    Roger   Williams,    Francis    Higginson,    the 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  227 

Mayhews,  and  the  Mathers,  were  preachers  of  great 
ability  and  influence,  in  most  instances  of  eminent  piety, 
and  highly  accomplished  for  their  day,  when  the  people 
considered  a  learned  ministry  to  be  a  first  necessity  of 
life — as  necessary  as  "  fire  to  a  smith."  To  Roger  Wil- 
liams belongs  the  high  praise  of  having  founded  a  State 
upon  freedom  of  conscience,  thus  applying  the  great  prin- 
ciple of  Christian  liberty  to  civil  things. 

Immediately  before  the  period  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution there  were  some  strong  political  preachers  in  New 
England,  dealing  with  the  fundamentals  of 

government  and  Christian  civilization,  one  of        °  '  *" 

preachers, 
whom,  Jonathan  Mayhew,  born   1720,    died 

1766,  in  his  famous  election  sermon  preached  in  Boston 
in  1750,  laid  down  the  ground-principles  of  human  gov- 
ernment and  constitutional  liberty,  which,  bearing  fruit  in 
the  Adamses  and  Otises  of  the  day,  led  to  the  Revolution- 
ary War  and  the  freedom  of  the  United  States.  Other 
names  of  political  preachers  and  leaders  of  opinion  were 
those  of  Charles  Chauncey,  Samuel  Langdon,  Samuel 
West,  Samuel  Phillips  Payson,  and  Ezra  Stiles,  Presi- 
dent of  Yale  College. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  second  centur),^  after  the 
settlement  of  New  England,  there  sprang  up  a  style  of 
preaching  far  superior  to  that  of  the  earliest  ministers  ; 
which,  for  metaphysical  depth  as  well  as  spiritual  earnest- 
ness, has  rarely  ever  been  surpassed.  Its  unequalled 
master  and  originator  was  Jonathan  Edwards,  who  was 
followed  by  a  race  of  lesser  giants,  Hopkins,  Bellamy, 
Edwards  the  younger,  Dwight,  Emmons,  and  many 
other  noted  preachers  and  theologians,  who  showed  the 
controlling  influence  of  Edwards's  mind,  which  has,  in 
fact,  moulded  the  American  pulpit  in  its  essential  quali- 
ties and  characteristics  down  to  the  present. 


228  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

While  Edwards  will  always  be  looked  upon  as  a  master 
in  metaphysics  and  dogmatics,  as  one  of  the  main  pil- 
lars of  Calvinistic  theology,  yet  the  power 

jona    an      ^^  Jonathan   Edwards  also   as  a  preacher  is 
Edwards.  ,  rr-i 

represented  to  have  been  tremendous.     The 

great  revival  of  1740,  of  which  he  has  written  a  narrative, 
in  all  probability  sprang,  under  God,  instrumentally  from 
his  preaching.  In  his  sermon  on  "  The  Last  Judgment," 
one  of  his  hearers  said  that  "  he  expected,  when  Mr. 
Edwards  stopped,  that  the  heavens  would  open  and  the 
Judge  descend,  and  the  separation  of  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked  immediately  take  place."  His  style,  regard- 
ed in  a  literary  point  of  view,  was  not  a  finished  one, 
and  was  often,  on  the  contrary,  hard  and  rugged  ;  but 
his  clear  mind  shone  through  it,  and  by  the  force  of  his 
mental  vision  he  made  spiritual  truths  plain.  This 
graphic  power  of  exhibiting  truth  showed  not  only  his 
force  of  thought,  but  the  idealizing  faculty  of  his  imagi- 
nation. He  felt  the  want  of  early  culture  in  the  art  of 
writing,  and  set  himself  in  middle  life  to  the  work  of  im- 
proving his  style  ;  but  thought  was  the  important  ele- 
ment of  his  preaching  ;  he  addressed  chiefly  the  under- 
standing and  conscience.  His  sermons  were  carefully 
written  upon  the  scholastic  model,  and  with  an  elabo- 
rately methodical  plan.  He  dwelt  on  the  explanation  of 
Scripture,  which  he  presented  as  a  fact  the  most  moment- 
ous to  the  soul  ;  and  his  idea  seemed  to  be  that  the  truth 
— the  doctrinal  truth — made  clear  to  the  mind  and  there 
left,  was  sufficient  to  do  its  own  work.  He  preached 
down  as  from  a  divine  point  of  view,  wielding  the  attri- 
butes of  God,  especially  those  of  justice  and  holiness, 
with  mighty  power  and  with  a  kind  of  celestial  inexorable 
logic  ;  but  he  did  not  bring  out  so  clearly  the  love  of 
God  and  the  grace  of  the  gospel  as  they  meet  man's  wants. 


HISTORY   OF  PREACHING.  229 

His  own  meekness  and  holy  purity  of  character  added 
weight  to  what  he  said,  and  in  the  immediate  results  of 
his  preaching  few  apparently  have  excelled  him.  He 
was  not  a  great  orator,  in  the  common  acceptance  of  the 
word,  for  his  delivery  was  monotonous  ;  but  his  pro- 
phetic earnestness  made  him  powerful.  He  seemed  to 
dwell  in  the  counsels  of  Almighty  wisdom.  His  sermons 
were  adapted  to  awaken  the  dead  conscience  of  the  New 
England  Church,  then  fallen,  through  the  influence  of 
the  "  half-way  Covenant"  and  other  causes,  into  an 
apathetic  and  immoral  state.  They  startled  the  auditors 
like  the  judgment-trump  of  God. 

The  sermonizing  of   Edwards  and  his  immediate  suc- 
cessors  was  characterized,  as  we  have  said,  by  a  faith- 
ful   exposition    of    the    Scriptures,    and    by 
a  careful  drawing  out  of  the  doctrine  which   Characteris- 

they    fortified    with    all    manner    of    illus-     t'«ofthe 

Edwardean 
trative    reasonmg,    both    moral    and  meta-      c  h    1    f 

physical  ;  and  after  that  came  the  ap-  preachers, 
plication,  which  included  often  more  than 
half  the  sermon,  and  was  very  solemn  and  pungent. 
It  was  dealing  with  eternal  interests,  and  was  intended 
to  be  God's  argument  with  men  to  convince  them  of 
sin  and  reconcile  them  to  God.  The  present  life  and 
its  interests  were  nothing — the  life  to  come  every- 
thing. This  application  saved  the  preaching  from  being 
altogether  too  abstract.  This  method  of  preaching,  while 
it  was  solemn  and  powerful,  had  doubtless  faults,  which 
have  since  been  more  or  less  corrected,  and  which  will 
be  still  more  successfully  guarded  against  as  a  clearer 
knowledge  of  the  true  life  and  universal  power  of  the  gos- 
pel prevails  ;  but  the  American  style  of  preaching,  ac- 
cording to  the  principle  we  started  with,  is  also  the  direct 
product    of    the  .intellectual    character    and   history    of 


230  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

the   American    people.      For   instance,    the    element    of 

faith,  which  so  peculiarly  characterized  the 

Product  of    history  of   our  fathers,    leading    them,    like 

Abraham,    to    leave    their    ancient     homes 
and  history 
oftheDeople   ^        ^°    ^^^       ^    country    that    God    should 

give  them — this  element  of  the  Refor- 
mation— predominates  in  American  preaching,  hiding 
even  the  essential  doctrine  of  good  works  ;  thinking  too 
little  of  it,  or  not  giving  it  the  actual  place  assigned 
to  it  and  to  the  great  Christian  virtues  of  hope  and 
charity  in  the  New  Testament.  The  principle  also  of 
liberty  of  conscience,  which  was  so  marked  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  founders,  impelling  them  to  separate  them- 
selves from  popery,  ritualism,  and  church  authority,  is 
seen  in  American  sermonizing  in  its  simple  and 
earnest  appeal  to  the  Scriptures,  resting  proof  upon  the 
Word  of  God  and  not  upon  human  authority,  urging  to 
personal  search,  and  setting  forth  individual  responsi- 
bility. Indeed,  this  element  of  conscience — this  bringing 
of  truth  to  bear  upon  the  "  man  of  the  heart" — is 
strongly,  one  might  say,  terribly,  distinctive  in  American 
preaching,  leaving  often  no  tender  thing  living  in  its  fiery 
blaze.  The  one  thought  of  sin  against  God  seemed 
sometimes  to  consume  all  other  thoughts  and  to  destroy 
all  the  gentler  feeling  and  the  more  passive  affections  of  the 
mind  ;  but  this  preaching  to  the  conscience  was  a  purify- 
ing fire  that  searched  the  recesses  of  the  soul  as  with 
"  the  candle  of  the  Lord."  Early  American  preaching 
had  also  the  element  of  sound  learning.  While  litera- 
ture, for  its  own  sake,  was  not  cultivated  by  them,  and 
amid  the  stern  realities  of  American  life  there  was  little 
of  the  aesthetic  sense  (though  poetry  did  show  a  wan 
flower  now  and  then),  yet  learning  flourished.  John  Cot- 
ton had  been  the  Dean  of  Emmanuel  College,  in  Cam- 


HISTORY  OF   PREACH IXG.  231 

bridge.  Increase  Mather  could  converse  fluently  in 
Latin,  and  could  compose  in  Hebrew  and  Greek.  His 
son,  Cotton  Mather,  prodigious  pedant  as  he  was,  was 
more  learned  still.  "  The  proportion  of  learned  men 
among  the  early  Puritans  was  extraordinary.  It  is  proba- 
ble that  between  the  years  1630  and  1690  there  were  in 
New  England  as  many  graduates  of  Cambridge  and  Ox- 
ford as  could  be  found  in  any  population  of  similar  size 
in  the  mother  country.  At  one  time,  the  first  part  of 
that  period,  there  was  in  Massachusetts  and  Connec- 
ticut a  Cambridge  graduate  for  every  two  hundred  and 
fifty  inhabitants,  besides  sons  of  Oxford  not  a  few."  ' 
While  the  preaching  that  came  forth  from  this  learning 
Avas  abstruse,  technical,  and  highly  theological,  it  had  all 
the  substantial  characteristics  of  intellectual  preaching. 
It  spoke  to  the  thoughtful  nature  of  man.  Jonathan 
Edwards  would  have  been  profound  in  any  field  of  human 
knowledge  which  he  had  entered.  The  prominent  quali- 
ties of  rational  knowledge,  or  knowledge  through  which 
the  reason  had  powerfully  cleared  its  way,  as  through  the 
tangled  forests  of  the  original  wilderness,  were  in  the 
preaching.  The  audiences  themselves  were  composed 
of  strong-minded,  thinking  men,  and  the  pulpit  was 
their  one  fountain  of  instruction.  But  in  its  intellectual 
aspects  American  preaching  unites  the  argument-loving 
or  logical  element  with  the  more  practical  quality  of  the 
American  mind.  It  is  highly  doctrinal,  as  suiting  an  in- 
tellectual race,  and  one  inclined  to  subtle  speculation  ; 
but  it  is  both  doctrinal  and  experimental  ;  it  aims  to 
reach  the  conscience  through  the  understanding,  and  to 
bring  men  to  an  immediate  decision  in  the  matters  of 
the  soul.     It  deals  with  these  doctrines  as  if  they  were 


A  History  of  American  Literature,  by  Moses  Colt  Tyler,  v.  i.  p.  98. 


232  HOMILETICS   PR  OPE  J?. 

indeed  the  greatest  truths,  the  substance  of  things,  the 
only  things  worthy  of  a  rational  being's  attention.  It  is 
therefore  characterized  by  an  intense  earnestness.  The 
early  preachers,  like  Hooker  and  Edwards,  seemed  to 
preach  with  a  spiritual  intensity,  with  the  lightening  of 
divine  truth  as  out  from  the  very  bosom  of  the  cloudy 
presence  of  God's  power  and  wisdom.  There  was  an 
utter  loss  of  self-consciousness  in  these  utterances.  The 
question  of  authority  in  the  preacher  was  in  the  early 
days  unheard  of.  It  is  said  of  Thomas  Hooker  that 
"when  he  was  doing  his  Master's  work,  he  would  put 
a  king  in  his  pocket."  These  ambassadors  of  God  spoke 
with  the  majesty  of  their  Sovereign's  message  to  men's 
consciences,  whether  they  would  hear  or  forbear.  And 
why  has  not  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  actual  guide  of  the 
Church  in  all  ages,  guided  also  in  the  preaching  of 
American  preachers  of  the  Word,  adapting  it  to  the 
character,  circumstances,  mind,  and  wants  of  the  Ameri- 
can people,  as  being  the  voice  of  God  to  us  in  our  passage 
through  the  wilderness  ;  as  truly  as  in  the  preaching  of 
Moses  and  Isaiah,  or  of  those  apostolic  ambassadors  who 
delivered  the  message  of  God  to  the  Jews,  Greeks  and 
Romans  ? 

The  American  sermon,  as  we  have  already  described 

it,  is  usually  built  upon  a  logical  plan  cast  into  the  form 

of  an  argument,  with  direct  practical  lessons 

Charactens-  ^j^awn  from  the    demonstrated   truth  ;   it   is 

tics  of  the  ....  ,11,  ,1 

A   e  ic  n     synthetic   m   form,  and   although  generally 

sermon.  biblical  in  tone  and  aim,  yet  it  is  not  simply 
biblical  as  confining  itself  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  Scripture  and  the  setting  forth  of  the  word  of 
God  ;  it  is  not  satisfied  with  this,  but  it  aims  at  a  philo- 
sophical systemization  of  divine  truth.  Indeed,  as  was 
said,  there  has  been  a  want  of  the   truly  evangelic  ele- 


HISTORY  OF  PRE  ACHING.  233 

ment — a  want,  one  might  say,  of  Christ  in  his  fulness,  in 
his  pre-eminently  human  nature  and  relation,  in  his  per- 
fect sympathy,  in  his  love  to  man,  and  in  the  multifarious 
and  intimate  applications  of  his  incarnation,  and  of  the 
new  reanimating  life  of  God  that  has  come  into  the 
human  soul  through  Christ's  entering  into  humanity. 
One  feels  this  want  in  reading  the  otherwise  admirable 
sermons  of  such  a  preacher  as  Dr.  Emmons.  There  is  a 
lack  of  Christ-like  sympathy,  of  the  soul-melting  element, 
of  something  that  wins,  subdues,  and  converts  the  most 
obdurate  heart  through  the  imperceptible  and  resistless 
ways  of  divine  love.  They  address  the  head  rather  than 
the  heart.  They  are  not  too  intellectual,  but  too  exclu- 
sively so  ;  and  such  preaching  has  thus  a  rigidity  of  form 
which  has  not  suffered  it  to  come  down  freely  enough 
to  the  actual  feelings,  needs,  and  comprehension  of  all 
men,  so  that  it  might  be  indeed  and  in  every  sense  to 
them  "  the  glad  tidings." 

There  is  recently  more  of   this   free   human   element 
coming  into  our  preaching  ;  and  the  great 

fear  is,  that  it  will  come  in  such  an  impet-  ^®^  dement 

coming  in. 
uous  and  untempered  way  as  to  endanger 

the  substantial  and  divine  groundwork  of  American 
doctrinal  preaching.  This  new  style  of  sermon  applies 
the  truth  to  the  life  in  an  exceedingly  interesting  man- 
ner, interpreting  truth  into  natural  language,  language 
that  is  spoken  by  men  every  day.  Such  preaching  seeks 
to  introduce  the  Christian  element  into  every  part  and 
faculty  of  the  nature,  and  freely  expresses  the  broader 
sympathies  of  the  gospel  for  all  men,  and  for  all  condi- 
tions of  humanity.  Its  faults  of  secularity  and  irrever- 
ence, and  of  a  certain  carrying  of  the  human  element  to 
an  extent  that  oftentimes  seems  to  overlie  and  obstruct 
the  divine — these  exaggerations,  we  think,  will  become 


234-  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

hereafter  toned  down,  and  will  leave  the  soil  enriched,  like 
a  great  and  apparently  destructive  overflow  of  the  Nile. 
The  moral  element  markedly  predominates  over  the  doc- 
trinal in  this  style  of  preaching  ;  and  there  can  be  no  pul- 
pit   eloquence,  says  Vinet,  without  the  moral   element  ; 
but  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  moral,  the  ethical, 
is  formed   upon  the   dogmatic  ;  and   although   exclusive 
dogma  without  the  moral  element  extinguishes  both  elo- 
quence and  spirituality,  yet  the  moral  without  the  dog- 
matic also  loses  its  deepest  spring  and  power  ;  a  whole- 
some mingling  and  interfusing  of  the  tv/o  will  make  the 
future  true  eloquence  and  power  of  the  American  pulpit. 
We  would  notice  with  some  particularity,  though  briefly, 
but  two  of  our  American  preachers.  Dr.  Emmons  and  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher.      Of  Dr.  Bushnell,  what  is  said  of  him 
in  this  book    in  various  ways,  must  be  taken  as  an  in- 
adequate   offering    to    his    powerful,  original,  and   most 
inspiring    genius.      His    sermons    on    the    "New   Life" 
formed  an  epoch   in    homiletical    literature,  and    in    our 
higher  religious  thought  and  conception  of  divine  things. 
Nathaniel   Emmons,   another  great  American  thinker 
and  preacher,   but   as  difTerent  from   Bush- 
Nat  anie      ^^^j^  ^^  ^  glass  prism  from  the  sunlight  it  sep- 
Emmons. 

arates  mto  its  constituent  rays,  was  a  recog- 
nized preacher  of  the  gospel  seventy-one  years,  and  a 
settled  pastor  over  one  parish  in  one  town  fifty-four 
years.  Preaching,  or,  one  might  say,  writing  sermons, 
was  the  business  of  his  life.  By  long  practice  he  became 
an  uncommonly  skillful  artificer  in  this  line — a  kind  of 
cabinet-maker  of  sermons.  Writing  "generally  rather 
than  specifically,"  and  upon  a  uniform  plan,  his  discourses 
are  finished  productions,  almost  perfect  of  their  kind. 
They  are  doctrinal  and  argumentative  sermons ;  and 
while  following^  out  his  train  of  reasoning  with  an  inflexi- 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  235 

ble  logic,  he  sometimes  landed  in  false  doctrine,  or  false 
statements  of  doctrinal  truth  ;  for  he  shunned  no  result 
■where  his  analysis  pressed  him  or  his  reasoning  fairly 
led  him  on,  though  the  character  of  God  might  seem 
to  suffer.  Dr.  Emmons  arranged  his  ideas  in  lumi- 
nous order,  easy  to  follow  and  remember.  He  digested 
his  subject  thoroughly  before  he  formed  his  plan.  He 
sought  the  substance  of  truth,  filling  his  mind  with 
great  principles  of  theology,  and  from  the  revolving  in 
his  mind  of  this  system  of  metaphysical  truth,  his  ser- 
mons were  evolved.  He  thought  and  conversed  continu- 
ally on  theological  themes,  and  stimulated  his  thinking 
not  only  by  the  study  of  metaphysics  but  of  the  best 
writers  in  other  departments,  and  of  Shakespeare's  trage- 
dies. He  did,  however,  his  own  thinking,  living,  as  it  were, 
in  an  abstract  realm.  He  was  one  of  the  eminent  theolo- 
gians of  New  England,  in  the  lineal  line  of  succession 
from  Edwards  and  Hopkins  ;  and  perhaps  the  clear- 
ness of  his  style  has  made  him  the  best  or  best  read 
exponent  of  that  remarkable  theology.  His  style  of 
writing  is  a  model  for  neatness,  precision,  and  plain  un- 
modified assertion  of  principles.  It  has  a  calm  and 
evenly  sustained  power,  rarely  rising  to  eloquence,  never 
sinking  to  feebleness.  It  is  excellent  for  its  didactic 
quality.  He  was  a  sagacious  student  of  the  human 
heart,  but  rather  by  thinking  than  by  intuition.  He 
taught  displeasing  truth  by  way  of  inference,  and 
was  the  incarnation  of  ministerial  prudence.  He  had, 
however,  his  faults.  He  was  too  exclusively  topical, 
and  did  not  rest  enough  upon  exegesis,  so  that  his 
sermons  proceed,  or  seem  to  proceed,  from  a  human 
standpoint,  and  are  run  in  the  same  mould  of  thought. 
He  was  also  too  exclusively  intellectual,  and  thus 
his  sermons  become   sometimes   hard,    and    more   inge- 


236  HOMILETICS    r ROPER. 

nious  and  subtle  than  persuasive  and  edifying.  The 
constant  argumentation  must  have  tended  to  produce  a 
questioning  turn  of  mind  on  the  part  of  his  hearers.  There 
is  not  enough,  also,  of  the  divine  gospel  in  his  preach- 
ing, or  not  enough  of  simple  dependence  upon  the  higher 
supernatural  element.  His  style,  though  exceedingly 
lucid,  lies  too  much  in  the  broad  light  ;  it  has  not  enough 
of  light  and  shade.  It  is  more  like  Euclid  than  Paul. 
Yet  he  has  left  us  both  admirable  sermons — a  vast 
treasury  of  them — and  admirable  homiletical  suggestions 
scattered  throughout  his  writings  and  his  table-talk,  which 
have  been  gathered  up  into  a  valuable  volume  by  the 
labors  of  his  favorite  pupil,  Professor  Park.  They  are 
such  as  these  : 

"  The  preacher  must  be  established  in  great  principles 
of  truth." 

"  Leave  the  subject  of  j^our  discourse  in  the  minds  of 
your  hearers  rather  than  a  few  sentiments  and  expres- 
sions." 

"  Preach  better  sermons  every  Sabbath." 

"  The  thing — the  thing — is  what  you  are  after." 

"  When  you  write  a  sermon  say,  i.  What  do  I  know 
about  this  that  my  people  do  not  know  ?  2.  How  can  I 
make  my  people  know  what  I  know  ?" 

He  made  a  great  deal  of  the  plan,  and  he  had  a 
su'preme  respect  for  the  application.  He  spoke  both  to 
saints  and  sinners  in  the  same  sermon. 

He  was  to  a  large  extent  an  extemporaneous  preacher  ; 
but  his  sermons  were  ever  thoroughly  composed,  men- 
tally, before  speaking. 

We    would    now    speak     of    Dr.    Lyman 

Lyman       Beecher,  both  as  a  man  and  as  a  preacher. 
Beecher.  .    . 

I.  As  a  man.    His  religious  character  Avas, 

above    all,     distinguished    by    a    positive    and    hopeful 


HISTORY   OF   PREACHING.  237 

faith.  He  believed  almost  without  a  doubt,  and  with 
great  energy  and  earnestness.  Religious  things  were 
to  him  the  most  real  things.  All  was  referred  to  God  ; 
and  this  supreme  reference  of  everything  to  God's 
government  was  seen  especially  in  the  great  turns  and 
changes  of  his  life  ;  when  he  went  from.  East  Hampton 
to  Litchfield,  and  from  Litchfield  to  Boston,  and  in 
going  to  Lane  Seminary.  The  depth  and  earnestness 
of  his  religious  principles  are  also  shown  in  his  anxiety 
and  his  unceasing  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  his  chil- 
dren. He  was  their  father  twice  over.  His  letters  to 
his  children  give  proof  that  his  mind  travailed  for  their 
eternal  welfare.  He  is  plain  almost  to  severity  with 
them.  He  was,  however,  an  affectionate  man  toward  his 
family.  Very  touching  are  his  allusions  to  the  death  of 
his  wife.  He  said  to  his  son,  "  These  are  the  sermons  I 
wrote  the  year  after  your  mother  died,  and  there  is  not 
one  of  them  good  for  anything."  Yet  this  affection  did 
not  prevent  him  from  training  his  children's  minds  by 
merciless  encounters  with  them  in  argument.  He  taught 
them  to  think  and  reason,  as  a  mastiff  teaches  its  young 
to  fight.  There  was  immense  intellectual  activity  in  that 
household,  springing  from  Dr.  Beecher's  own  interest 
in  mind.  His  mind  was  eminently  practical,  and  sym- 
pathized with  everything  that  had  in  it  the  promise  of 
good.  Nothing  was  good  to  him  that  could  not  be 
reduced  to  immediate  practical  use.  This  trait  rendered 
him  nobly  effective  ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  may  have 
had  an  influence  to  give  him  a  somewhat  one-sided  view 
of  things.  As  a  man  and  a  pastor  he  achieved  a  vast 
amount  of  good  work  by  setting  other  people  to  work, 
evincing  in  this  great  tact  and  magnanimity.  He  em- 
ployed and  interested  young  men  to  carry  out  his  plans 
of   benevolence    or   of   revival   work.       "  The    Hanover 


238  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

Association  of  Young  Men,"  which  was  so  efficient,  was 
a  creation  of  his.  His  knowledge  of  men  was  consider- 
able, though  he  may  have  sometimes  made  mistakes,  as 
he  probably  did  in  regard  to  Dr.  Finney.  The  moral- 
reform  movements  of  the  present  time  owe  much  to  his 
original  genius  and  boldness  in  grappling,  as  he  did 
almost  single-handed,  with  intemperance,  duelling,  poli- 
tical atheism,  and  the  spirit  of  absolutism  in  Church  and 
State.  He  had  a  ready  and  pungent  wit,  not  the  quality 
of  humor  which  quietly  touches  and  plays  about  a  sub- 
ject, but  which  showed  itself  in  unexpected  striking  il- 
lustrations and  pithy,  homely  sentences,  that  stuck  fast 
in  people's  memories.  It  was  often  the  solidest  wisdom 
packed  in  the  oddest  forms.  He  had  a  considerable 
amount  of  innocent  vanity  which  sprang  from  his  entire 
self-reliance.  He  seems  to  have  had  a  healthy  though  not 
particularly  fine  or  aesthetical  love  of  nature.  He  loved 
fishing,  as  much  perhaps  for  its  opportunity  for  open  air 
and  exercise,  and  knack  required  for  success,  as  for  the 
beauties  of  nature  that  it  led  one  into. 
.  2.  As  a  preacher.  He  was,  above  all,  an  orator,  a 
preacher.  His  powers  were  eminently  adapted  to  apply 
truth  to  the  human  mind  with  force  and  effectiveness, 
rather  than  to  discover,  weigh,  and  analyze  truth.  His 
mind  was  not  eminently  philosophical.  We  doubt 
whether  he  did  or  could  make  a  thoroughly  philosophical 
system  of  theology.  But  he  was  a  great  preacher. 
There  was  his  place.  He  had  both  logic  and  passion,  the 
material  and  the  fire  of  oratory.  He  was  one  of  nature's 
own  orators.  There  were  bursts  of  spontaneous  eloquence 
in  his  preaching  that,  in  his  prime,  are  reported  to  have 
been  of  extraordinary  power  and  even  sublimity.  The 
imagination  of  the  true  orator  was  marked  in  him,  as  some 
vivid  passages  in   his  Temperance   Discourses  still  bear 


HISTORY  OF  PREACHING.  239 

witness.  His  ideas  of  writing  and  speaking  had  nothing 
of  clap-trap  and  the  false  sensational  about  them,  but  they 
were  sound  and  classical.  As  a  minister  he  thought  the 
pastoral  work  was  necessary  to  make  the  good  preacher, 
and  that  the  two  must  be  united.  His  sermons  ever  swept 
on  to  some  pastoral  and  practical  result  on  heart  or  life. 
No  one  could  have  a  higher  idea  of  the  preacher's  work 
in  which  he  continued  till  near  the  end  of  his  life,  and  it 
was  a  touching  scene  when  he  gave  up  his  sermon-making 
and  preaching.  He  was  then  ready  to  depart.  But  Dr. 
Beecher  was,  more  specifically,  a  revival  preacher.  Here 
was  his  life  and  life-work,  his  glory  and  crown.  He  lived 
in  the  atmosphere  of  revivals  ;  and  to  have  a  revival  was 
his  idea  of  supreme  felicity.  The  last  words  he  said 
were,  "  not  theology,  not  controversy,  but  to  save  souls." 
He  said  of  the  period  when  he  entered  upon  the  minis- 
try, "  Dwight  was,  however,  a  revival  preacher,  and  a 
new  era  of  revivals  was  commencing.  There  had  been  a 
general  suspension  of  revivals  after  the  Edwardean  era 
during  the  revolution  ;  but  a  new  day  was  dawning  as 
I  came  on  the  stage,  and  I  was  baptized  into  the  re- 
vival spirit."  His  ministry  was  blessed  with  many  and 
powerful  revivals  at  East  Hampton,  Litchfield,  Boston, 
and  also  afterward  when  he  preached  as  a  revivalist 
at  Terre  Haute  and  other  places  at  the  West,  and  at 
Andover.  To  rally  the  Church  for  revivals  was  his  inces- 
sant and  absorbing  work.  His  method  of  promoting  re- 
vivals is  as  specially  worthy  of  study  by  all  those  who  are 
entering  the  ministerial  field,  as  it  would  be  for  a  young 
military  officer  to  study  the  strategical  principles  and 
the  campaigns  of  a  Wellington  or  a  Napoleon.  He  relied 
greatly  upon  the  influence  of  a  perfect  concert  of  action, 
on  church  prayer-meetings,  and  on  household  visitation, 
bringing  up  the  whole  working  capacity  of  the  Church  into 


240  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

united  and  vigorous  co-operation.  His  means  of  "  deal- 
ing with  sinners,"  as  he  termed  it,  were  something  quite 
original,  as  was  the  character  of  his  preaching,  at  such 
times,  to  the  impenitent  and  the  inquiring.  He  watched 
with  intense  anxiety  the  condition  of  his  own  heart  and 
the  leadings  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  end  of  a  revival 
was  the  end  with  him.  He  did  not  run  after  it,  as  he 
said,  any  more  than  he  would  after  a  spent  cannon-ball. 
His  peculiar  system  of  theology,  or  truth,  as  applied  to 
preaching,  was  not  probably  so  great  a  source  of  power 
as  was  the  earnestness  of  soul  and  the  faith  and  the  faith- 
fulness which  he  put  into  the  work. 

It  would  be  interesting  in  this  connection  to  speak 
here  of  Dr.  Finney,  who  in  some  sense  was  a  contemporary 
of  Dr.  Beecher,  and  whose  method  as  a  revival-preacher 
had  strong  and  most  interesting  peculiarities  of  great 
practical  utility  for  the  young  preacher  to  study  ;  but  we 
must  bring  these  remarks  upon  the  history  of  preaching 
to  a  close. 

We  will  not  stop  to  discuss  the  effect  of  what  is  some- 
times called  Liberal  Religion  upon  American  preaching  ; 
it  has  exerted  a  marked  power  in  a  literary 

Influence  of  ^^^  intellectual  point  of  view,  in  bringing 
Liberal        .  i         r         •,  •  i  n 

P  J.  .  ma  purer  style  of  writmg  and  a  more  hn- 

ished  culture  ;  and  it  has  not  been  with- 
out its  good  in  theological  directions  as  a  modification 
of  extreme  views,  and  as  an  influence  to  enlarge 
thought  where  it  had  become  hide-bound  by  the  force 
of  a  traditional  dogmatism  ;  but  it  has  had,  on  the 
whole  (it  is  not  uncharitable  to  say),  a  depressing 
influence  in  taking  the  fire  out  of  pulpit  eloquence 
and  introducing  an  essay-like  style  of  sermonizing. 
There  can  be  no  genuinely  apostolic  preaching  without 
the  earnestness  of  positive  evangelic  truth  concerning  sin 


HISTORY  OF  PREACIIIXG.  24 1 

and  redemption.  The  sermons  of  such  men  as  Dr. 
Channing,  President  Walker,  and  that  giant,  Theodore 
Parker,  are  worthy  of  our  study  for  many  most  noble 
and  admirable  qualities,  as  are  also  those  of  such  Euro- 
pean Unitarians  as  James  Martineau,  Stopford  Brooke, 
and  the  Coquerels,  father  and  son.  These  preachers 
and  writers,  men  of  force  and  genius,  have  worked  one 
golden  vein  which  has  been  too  little  wrought  by  us — 
the  ethical — and  here  we  may  learn  much  from  them, 
and  may  go  deeper  than  they,  even  in  this  their  peculiar 
province. 

Besides  those  already  mentioned,  the  names  of  other 
American  preachers,  of  Samuel  Davies,  John  H.  Living- 
stone,   John    Leland,    Griflfin,   Payson,    the 
Alexanders,  Nathaniel  Taylor,  Erskine  Ma-     ^^'^^  "^ 
son,    Gardiner   Spring,    Olin,    Summerfield,     preachers. 
Bedell,     Bishop    White,     Bethune,    Barnes, 
McClintock,  without  mentioning  eminent  preachers  now 
living — these    are   familiar  names,  and,  taken  together, 
there  probably  never  has  been  such  a  body  of  preachers, 
comprising    so    much    of    intellectual    power,    sanctified 
earnestness,    and    living    faith,    since    the    days    of    the 
apostles. 

The  main  practical  lessons  to  be  drawn  from  this  brief 
survey  of  the  history  of  preaching  are  (i)  that  the  preacher, 
especially  the  young  preacher,  should  study      _       .    . 
to  comprehend  and  to  combine  the  various  lessons  from 
excellences  of  the  different  kinds  of  preach-       study  of 
ing  to  be  found  in  all  times  and  ages,  and     history  of 
to  enrich,   strengthen,   and  elevate  his  own     P''^^*^  '"^• 
preaching    by   endeavoring    to    appropriate    whatever    is 
good  in  them  all.      He    should   be   led    to    read  the   ser- 
mons of  all  ages  in  their  original  forms.      It  is  true  that 
sermon  literature  will  not  particularly  help  the  preacher— 


242  HOMILETICS   PROrER. 

his  real  inspiration  should  be  from  the  study  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  his  own  heart  and  life  ;  but  he  may  have  his  en- 
thusiasm aroused  by  the  study  of  the  great  models  of  his  art 
— by  placing  before  himself  great  ideals.  He  may  strive  to 
come  at  their  sources  of  power.  But  let  him  remember  that 
great  men  cannot  be  imitated,  and  he  who  is  really  great 
is  built  upon  no  other  man's  foundation  ;  his  greatness  is 
unconscious  and  inimitable  ;  still  the  deepest  sources  of 
power  in  preaching  which  are  without  the  man,  and  which 
are  divine,  and  can  therefore  be  drawn  upon  by  all  men, 
these  can  be  sought  for  with  profit  ;  though,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  divine  and  the  human  are  invisibly  wrought 
together  in  the  interior  parts  of  the  mind,  and  both,  ap- 
parently, belong  peculiarly  to  the  man  himself.  (2) 
That  he  should,  above  all,  earnestly  strive  to  catch  the 
spirit  and  calling  of  his  own  age,  feeling  that  the  Spirit 
sweeps  on  like  the  wind  and  never  recedes  ;  that  it  always 
hastens  to  a  higher  and  fuller  expression  of  the  love  of 
God  ;  and  he  should,  therefore,  adapt  his  preaching  to 
the  evident  leadings  and  manifestations  of  the  Spirit  in 
his  day,  and  to  the  living  men  about  him,  without  at 
the  same  time  yielding  up  the  essential  qualities  and 
characteristics  of  the  true  preacher  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
which  belong  to  all  time,  and  to  eternal  truth. 


SECOND   DIVISION. 

OBJECT     OF     PREACHING. 

Sec.    II.   Object  and  Design  of  Preaching. 

By  reason  of  mistakes  sometimes  made  upon  the  funda- 
mental topic  of  the  object  of  preaching,  and  of  the 
related  subject,  the  true  sphere  of  the  preacher,  and  the 
great  evils  that  result  from  these  errors,  it  becomes  nec- 
essary for  the  young  preacher  to  have  some  well-defined 
understanding  of  this  whole  matter.  It  is  vital.  The 
work  and  sphere  of  the  preacher  is  vast,  almost  requiring 
an  angel's  powers,  yet  at  the  same  time  it  is  something 
positive,  and  is  not  precisely  the  sphere  and  work  of 
another  man  ;  and  it  is  good  to  know  this,  lest  one  waste 
his  powers  in  vain  efforts,  and  in  fields  of  labor  which 
are  really  not  his  own.  In  regard  to  the  grand  object  of 
preaching  it  might  be  said,  negatively,  that  Christian 
preachers  are  not  set  in  the  community  to  teach  meta- 
physics and  theology,  to  cultivate  eloquence  and  litera- 
ture, to  conduct  a  splendid  ritual,  to  build  up,  financially, 
strong  and  paying  churches  ;  but  the  preacher  has  a  higher 
sphere  and  work  which,  whatever  it  is,  is  separable  from 
every  other.  While  it  is  a  work  mainly  in  the  realm  of 
conscience  and  spirit,  while  it  takes  hold  of  everlasting 
interests,  it  is  still  a  definite  work.  It  is  not  exactly  the 
work  of  the  scholar,  or  the  philosopher,  or  the  historian, 
or  the  scientist,  or  the  advocate,  or  the  soldier,  or  the 


244  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

business  man,  or  the  man  of  affairs  in  the  State,  though 
it  partakes  of  all  these,  as  might  be  witnessed,  for  exam- 
ple, in  some  of  the  preachers  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 
France  in  the  seventeenth  century,  who  w^ere  genuine 
statesmen  of  the  first  order.  But  while  it  has  no  place 
properly  among  the  common  occupations  of  men 
(though  classified  as  one  of  the  three  learned  professions), 
yet  it  is,  and  men  still  recognize  it  to  be,  the  "  divine 
office."  The  gospel,  or  God's  message  of  peace  and 
life,  being  a  gift  divinely  suited  to  its  object,  which  com- 
prehends the  whole  being,  and  is  fitted  to  secure  the  com- 
plete restoration  of  humanity,  is  addressed  to  man  in 
relations  strikingly  corresponding  to  the  three  great 
divisions  of  his  rational,  moral,  and  spiritual  nature  ;  in 
other  words,  as  a  doctrine,  as  a  motive,  and  as  a  life  , 
and  these  relations  in  turn  correspond  to  the  three  essen- 
tial properties  of  Christian  preaching,  which  threefold 
design  we  proceed  to  unfold.  All  indeed  might  be  ex- 
pressed in  the  familiar  phrase  "to  save  souls."  The 
end  of  preaching  is  to  secure  men's  salvation  ;  and  there 
can  be  no  truer  and  more  comprehensive  answer  to  the 
question  "What  is  the  object  of  preaching?"  because 
salvation  includes  everything  that  is  good  in  character 
and  life.  The  object  of  Christ  the  Saviour  is  the  object 
of  his  preachers.  But  such  a  phrase,  "  to  save  souls,"  is 
easily  spoken,  and  may  become  stereotyped  and  meaning- 
less. 

The  preacher's  responsibility  is  great  ;  but  let  us 
endeavor  to  see  just  what  it  is.  He  is  not  to  do  things 
beyond  his  power.  He  is  one  in  a  series  of  agencies 
prepared  by  divine  wisdom  for  the  accomplishment  of 
an  infinite  end,  and  he  should  know  his  work.  He  is 
not  the  head-spring  of  salvation,  he  is  but  a  means  to 
an    end.      Christ    is   the   life  ;    he    is    to    proclaim    this 


OBJECT  OF  PREACHING.  245 

life.     Christ  is  the  light  of  men  ;    he    is  to  diffuse  this 

light. 

We  would  answer,  then,  that   the   first  great  object  of 

preaching,  which  goes  also  to  determine  its  scope,  is, 

I.    Instruction. — This  signifies  instruction 

.  Instruction, 

m  divme  truth,  and  mcludes  interpretation  as 

a  means  to  instruction. 

Preaching  has  primary  reference  to  truth,  which  makes 
its  first  appeal  to  the  intellect  or  the  knowing  faculty  ; 
and,  above  all,  it  concerns  that  absolute  truth  which  com- 
prises the  knowledge  of  God,  and  which  forms  the  basis 
of  all  other  truth  and  being.  This  knowledge  of  God  has 
relation  to  the  manifestation  of  himself  in  revelation  and 
in  nature.  It  lies  in  its  elemental  relations  in  nature 
and  the  whole  moral  universe,  but  in  its  more  perfect 
manifestation  it  is  to  be  searched  for  in  the  Scriptures. 
The  apostle  Paul  says  (Eph.  5:13):  "  For  whatsoever 
doth  make  manifest  is  light  ;"  referring,  as  in  the  next 
verse,  especially  to  Christ,  as  he  who  is  the  light  "  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world,"  and 
this  light  penetrating  the  world  of  corrupt  mind  awakens 
everywhere  new  moral  life.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Church 
on  earth  to  diffuse  this  light  of  the  knowledge  of  God 
and  of  Christ.  The  Church  is  endowed  not  only  with 
the  "  charisma"  of  faith,  to  receive  the  truth,  but  with 
the  "  charisma"  of  preaching,  to  give  the  truth  to  others. 
It  is  to  light  up  a  blaze  of  truth  in  this  dark  world.  Its 
messengers  are  to  make  known  the  truth  to  all  living 
men,  and  all  the  successive  generations  of  men,  in  its 
length,  breadth,  and  fulness  ;  in  the  fulness  of  the  love 
of  God  in  Christ,  of  that  last  and  most  perfect  manifesta- 
tion of  God  as  a  Saviour,  sending  his  Son  into  the  world 
to  redeem  the  world — so  that  there  can  be  no  possible 
misapprehension  about  it. 


246  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

"  Preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature  ;"  let  all  men 
see,  in  clear  light,  what  are  the  facts  and  contents  of 
God's  revealed  truth,  in  order  that  they  may  understand 
and  believe.  This,  historically,  was  the  first  object  of 
the  early  preachers  ;  they  were  "  heralds"  to  announce 
the  things  belonging  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  whether 
men  would  hear  or  forbear.  The  apostles  were  sent 
everywhere  to  manifest  "  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  to 
indoctrinate  men  in  the  knowledge  of  God  as  made 
known  in  his  Son.  In  the  apostolic  logic,  this  preach- 
ing, or  making  known  the  truth  to  men,  was  essential  to 
their  faith  and  salvation  (Rom.  10  :  17),  "  So  then  faith 
Cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God  ;" 
(John  17:3),"  And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might 
know  thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  whom 
thou  hast  sent  ;"  (2  Pet.  i  :  2,  3)  "  Grace  and  peace  be 
multiplied  unto  you,  through  the  knowledge  of  God,  and 
of  Jesus  our  Lord,  according  as  his  divine  power  hath  given 
unto  us  all  things  that  pertain  unto  life  and  godliness, 
through  the  knowledge  of  him  that  hath  called  us  to 
glory  and  virtue." 

Now  this  same  element  of  knowledge,  of  instruc- 
tion, still  remains  in  preaching.  Christ  said,  "  To  this 
end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the 
world,  that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth  ;"  and 
as  Christ  was  "  the  light,"  as  he  was  "  a  teacher  sent 
from  God,"  so  that  deserves  not  to  be  called  preaching 
which  does  not  shine  within  and  without  with  the  light 
of  the  knowledge  of  God,  which  does  not  contain  the 
prime  quality  of  instruction  ;  for  the  gospel  is  a  "  word" 
even  before  it  is  a  "  message."  It  is  a  word  which  is  to 
be  sent,  or  published.  The  "word"  is  addressed  to 
men's  reason.  In  classic  literature,  as  well  as  in  the 
original  Scriptures,  it  is  well  known  that  the  term  Logos, 


OBJECT  OF   PREACHING.  247 

"word,"  was  used  in  a  twofold  sense,  one  as  signify- 
ing "  reason"  or  the  "  immanent  word"  {\oyoZ  ivdia- 
SsTos)  ;  the  other  as  "  expression,"  or  the  "  enuncia- 
tive  word"  (Xoyoi  npoq)opi7i6s).  In  the  Christian 
economy  it  might  be  said  that  the  "  immanent  word" 
or  "  reason"  was  a  preparation  in  the  human  soul  for  the 
announcement  of  Christ,  or  a  divinely  given  capacity  in 
the  higher  rational  nature  of  man  when  appealed  to  by 
the  divine  reason  to  receive  Christ  ;  while  the  "  enuncia- 
tive  word  "  was  the  actual  gospel.  Here  we  have  the 
subjective  and  the  objective  views,  if  we  wish  to  look  at  it 
philosophically  ;  though  this  is  a  secondary  matter. 
The  gospel  is  the  true  enunciation  of  God  in  Christ.  It 
is  the  manifestation  of  the  nature,  will,  and  grace  of  God, 
as  represented  in  the  new  revelation  of  the  Son  of  God, 
the  "  Word"  that  was  in  the  beginning,  and  that  was 
with  God,  and  that  was  God. 

That  "  Word  of  God"  is  ever  to  be  announced  to  men. 
That  is  the  principal  thing.  It  is  itself  the  supreme  rea- 
son, and  speaks  to  the  highest  reason  in  man.  It  is  the 
voice  of  God  speaking  to  man's  higher  nature  and  con- 
science, as  it  spoke  to  him  in  the  garden  of  Eden. 

The  preacher  must  be  thus  a  voice  to  give  utterance 
to  this  will  and  grace  of  God  in  his  gospel.  He  is  "  the 
voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness"  of  sinful  and  deso- 
late souls.     He  is  especially  a  "  servant  of  the  Word." 

The  preacher,  therefore,  is  not  responsible  for  originat- 
ing new  truth  ;  but  his  business  is  to  announce  and  in- 
terpret truth  already  originated,  and  that  was  from  the 
beginning.  He  is  to  treat  it  mainly  objectively — its 
great  truths  or  doctrines  as  they  stand  revealed  in  the 
Word  of  God  corresponding  to  the  great  wants  of  the 
human  heart.  He  is  also  to  rise  above  the  mere  eccle- 
siastical conception  of   the  preacher  ;    as,   for  example, 


248  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

the  Roman  Catholic  orator,  who  speaks  what  is  given  him 
by  the  Church,  so  much  so  that  in  earlier  times,  as  we 
have  seen,  set  "homilies,"  prepared  beforehand  by  the 
bishops,  were  pubHcly  read  by  the  priests.  In  the  Epis- 
copal Church  the  clergyman  could  hardly  presume  to  go 
beyond,  or  aside  from,  the  authoritative  prescriptions  of 
the  Church  creeds  and  "  agenda  ;"  the  Baptist  preacher 
must  maintain  the  Baptist  view,  and  the  Presbyterian 
the  Presbyterian  ;  the  Congregational  minister  must 
preach  so  as  to  please  the  people,  or  some  of  the  people 
— we  refer  now  to  the  extreme  tendencies  of  the  denomi- 
national idea  in  its  practical  influence  upon  the  preacher 
— but  he  is,  nevertheless,  the  interpreter  of  a  higher  gos- 
pel. His  duty  is  plain.  He  is  to  speak  the  Word  that 
God  gives  him.  The  truth  is  given  him,  and  he  is  to 
make  it  clear  to  the  minds  of  men.  He  is  always  to 
make  advance  in  the  knowledge  of  God.  He  publishes 
to  men,  not  new  truth,  but  new  discoveries  of  truth,  as 
the  star-sown  spaces  of  the  sky  were  the  same  in  the  time 
of  Adam  as  they  were  in  the  time  of  Kepler,  and  as  they 
are  now  ;  but  the  eye  of  the  true  interpreter  sees  ever 
deeper  and  clearer  into  their  abysses. 

We  have  said  that  interpretation  is  necessarily  in- 
cluded in  this  idea  of  instruction.  Let  us  look  for  a 
moment    at    this    subject    of    interpretation 

Instruction     y^\{^^\^    jg    really  the    chief    form    or    instru- 

•  .  "^"I^^.-  mentality  of  the  instruction  which  the 
interpretation.  ^ 

■~  preacher  is  to  give.     In  its  ordinary  mean- 

ing, as  applied  to  uninspired  writings,  interpretation 
refers  to  the  philological  and  historical,  perhaps  ra- 
tional sense,  of  any  given  passage  or  book  ;  but  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  Bible  there  is  a  new  factor  that 
enters  into  the  problem,  viz..  Inspiration  {deonvev- 
<7Tta),  which  brings  in  a  supernatural  element  ;  and  the 


OBJECT  OF  PREACHING.  249 

interpretation  of  this  underlying  spiritual  sense  of  Scrip- 
ture makes  the  office  of  the  preacher  one  of  such  great 
and  high  responsibiUty.  Spiritual  things  are  discerned 
through  the  teachings  of  the  Spirit  to  faith,  love,  and 
obedience.  "  If  any  man  will  do  (or  is  willing  to  do,  loves 
to  do)  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  ;"  so  that  he 
who  "  loveth  is  born  of  God  and  knoweth  God."  While 
it  is  true  that  the  inner  door  of  interpretation  is  unlocked 
by  this  key,  it  is  also  true  that  the  outer  door  opens  to 
patient  scholarship.  We  are  to  come  at  the  precise 
meaning  of  the  words  of  Scripture  just  as  we  come  at  the 
meaning  of  any  other  book,  written  in  a  foreign  language, 
by  the  help  of  grammar,  dictionary,  and  commentary, 
and  of  that  cultured  literary  sense,  of  which  Matthew 
Arnold,  in  his  "  Literature  and  Dogma,"  speaks  so  well, 
if  he  did  not  overstate  it. 

Let  the  tendency  of  public  opinion  be  what  it  may,  the 
preacher  should  Jiold  to  sound  learning,  that  he  may  be 
able  to  form  his  own  judgment,  since  no  commentator  is 
infallible. 

The  jealousies  and  bickerings  of  scholars  in  the  mat- 
ter of  interpretation  should  be  a  lesson  to  us.  A  wrong 
theory  to  start  with,  a  mental  twist,  a  temporary  fail- 
ure of  critical  acumen,  or  even  of  common  sense,  upon 
a  given  text,  among  hundreds  and  thousands  of  passages, 
sometimes  invalidates  the  authority  of  the  most  acute 
scholar,  be  he  English  or  German.  The  conflict  of  the 
age  is  now  waging  about  the  oldest  portions  of  the  Old 
Testament  concerning  the  creation  of  matter  and  the 
origin  of  man,  and  a  scholarly  acquaintance  with  Hebrew 
would  seem  to  be  indispensable,  if  one  would  stand  on 
the  primitive  rock  of  the  original  text.  There  should  be 
a  renewed  enthusiasm  in  the  study  of  this  grand  old  lan- 
guage.    A  recent  writer  says  :    "A  knowledge  of  Greek 


250  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

is  considered  absolutely  necessary  for  the  clergy  ;  but  in 
the  present  state  of  theological  controversy,  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  Hebrew  is  even  more  necessary.  On  almost 
every  disputed  point  of  biblical  criticism,  the  man  who  is 
not  a  Hebrew  scholar  is  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the  man 
who  is." 

But  while  he  should  be  able  to  know  the  Scriptures  in 
their  original  tongues,  and  for  this  purpose  must  and 
should  freely  call  to  his  assistance  all  scholarly  helps  ; 
while  as  a  scholar,  an  historian,  and  a  poet,  he  should 
enter  into  the  deepest  soul  of  these  old  languages  ;  he 
must  at  the  same  time  be  himself  in  inner  harmony  with 
the  truth,  and  be  brought  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  sym- 
pathy with  that  Word  which  he  interprets,  as  well  as 
with  those  hearts  to  whom  he  interprets  it.  So  he  stands 
between  the  two. 

"  How  deep  you  were  within  the  books  of  God  ? 
To  us,  the  speaker  in  his  parliament  ; 
To  us,  the  imagined  voice  of  God  himself  : 
The  very  opener  and  intelligencer 
Between  the  grace,  the  sanctities  of  heaven, 
And  our  dull  workings. "  ' 

The  preacher,  if  he  desires  to  be  a  true  interpreter,  is  not 
to  use  the  Bible  merely  as  a  treasury  of  texts  for  ser- 
mons, but  as  the  nourishment  of  his  thought,  the  con- 
stant source  of  that  divine  knowledge  which  he  imparts 
to  his  people  ;  for  he  is  not  a  mere  brazen  trumpet  for 
the  breath  of  God  to  blow  through,  but  his  own  mind  is 
to  work  upon  the  revealed  truth— to  translate,  to  judge, 
to  unify,  to  combine,  to  bring  to  bear  upon  it  his  best 
critical  and  philosophical  powers.  He  is  boldly  to  em- 
ploy the  tests  of  his  most  searching  analysis  and  his  widest 
generalization,  since  a  narrow  and  rigid   theory  of   inter- 

'  Shakespeare's  "  Henry  IV.,"  iv.  2. 


OBJECT  OF  PREACinXG.  251 

prctatlon  is  ofttimes  more  destructive  than  the  broadest.' 
He  is,  above  all,  prayerfully  to  draw  forth  the  riches  of 
the  Word  as  it  speaks  to  him  in  a  religious  point  of  view, 
as  a  sinful  man  needing  Christ,  being  willing  to  be  him- 
self taught  of  God,  and  having  the  passive  as  well  as  the 
active,  the  receptive  as  well  as  the  seeking  mind.  In 
this  way  the  humble  interpreter  becomes  the  wise  teacher 
{diddffytaXo-,),  and  imbibes  a  portion  of  that  divine  wis- 
dom which  he  dispenses  to  others.  He  catches  the  pro- 
phetic spirit  of  inspiration,  and  is  imperceptibly  clothed 
with  its  authority,  so  that  he  speaks  as  from  out  the 
"  lively  oracles."  He  is  a  genuine  voice  of  God  for  in- 
struction, consolation,  reproof,  above  the  voice  of  the 
sky,  or  sea,  or  mountains,  or  thunder.  He  speaks  to 
what  is  more  profound  and  enduring  than  nature. 

Thus  the  young  preacher  may  look  forward  to  no 
feeble  and  superficial,  but  to  a  wide  and  deep  ministry  of 
the  infinite  Word.  He  should  settle  it  in  his  mind  that 
by  severe  as  well  as  generous  scholarship,  by  a  life-long 
systematic  study  of  the  Bible,  by  the  consecration  of  his 
powers  to  this  holy  work,  by  humble  waiting  on  God  for 
light,  he  is  to  make  himself  a  true  interpreter.  This  is 
his  prime  business — to  understand  the  Scriptures — to  give 
his  days  and  nights,  his  strength  and  life,  to  this  work. 
His  prayer — ofttimes  agonizing  prayer  like  that  of  Ajax — 
is  for  light.  He  is  the  prophet  of  God,  as  the  poet  is  the 
prophet  of  nature.  He  is  not  a  preacher,  if  this  is  not 
his  first  work.  He  is  a  false  prophet.  He  is  a  disloyal 
messenger.  He  speaks  his  own  word,  not  God's.  He 
does  not  seek  to  know  and  think  over  again  the  thoughts 
of  the  Eternal  mind.  Hislittle  ministry  soon  runs  out.  Do 
we  not,  indeed,  discover  here  the  secret  of  the  ofttimes 


'  See  Dr.  Arnold's  Sermons  on  "  Interpretation  of  Scripture.'" 


2  52  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

superficial  character  and  results  of  the  ministry — of  the 
small  fruit  of  preaching  and  pastoral  labor,  of  the  almost 
total  absence  of  the  primitive  quickening  element  in 
preaching,  of  the  ambitious,  low,  and  secular  view  of  the 
divine  ofifice — of  short  settlements  in  the  ministry — of  the 
work  of  lay  preachers  to  fill  out  (as  some  genuine  "  evan- 
gelists" of  this  day,  though  not  theologically  and  artisti- 
cally models  of  preachers,  nobly  and  wonderfully  are 
doing),  the  glaring  deficiencies  of  formal,  unsympathetic, 
unpopular  and  unbiblical  preaching.  The  primary  sphere 
of  the  preacher  is,  therefore,  we  conclude,  to  instruct  in 
divine  truth,  to  interpret  purely  God's  Word.  He  may  in- 
deed find  God's  truth  in  nature,  as  well  as  in  revelation,  for 
there  is,  as  Lord  Bacon  says,  "  a  voice  of  God  revealed 
in  things."  But  his  principal  work  is  to  instruct  in  the 
things  of  the  Gospel  of  God.  He  is  God's  mouth-piece. 
He  is  to  let  God  speak  through  him.  That  is  his  office, 
and  to  this  work  of  instruction  the  best  powers  of  mind, 
the  finest  culture,  the  most  profound  spiritual  insight  im- 
parted by  the  anointing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  may  be  em- 
ployed. But  great  as  this  office  is,  this  does  not  set  forth 
the  whole  object  of  preaching,  nor,  though  in  point  of 
time  it  necessarily  comes  first,  does  it,  perhaps,  in  point 
of  fact,  express  the  highest  aim  of  preaching  ;  and  for  the 
discovery  of  this  we  will  have  to  consider  the  true  results 
of  preaching  especially  in  those  to  whom  it  is  addressed. 

The  second  great  object  of  preaching,  without  which 
it  is  of  little  use,  we  would  say  again  is, 

2.   PfirsjLiasion. — This  is,  through  the  powerful  appeal 

to  motives,  to  bring  men  themselves  into  harmony  with 

the  truth  which  is  preached,  so  that  it  shall 
Persuasion.    ,  ,  ,  ,     r  ir         t     •  i 

be  to  them  the  word  of  life,      it  is  to  make 

the  truth  true  to  men.      It  is  more  than  instruction.     It 

is  beyond  knowledge  ;  it  is  the  producing  of  repentance, 


OBJECT  OF  PREACHING.  253 

faith,  conversion.  It  actually  leads  the  religious  aspira- 
tions to  their  divine  object,  bringing  souls  into  vital  union 
Mith  Him  who  is  the  soul's  Lord,  Judge,  and  Redeemer, 
It  is  "  speaking  the  truth  in  love."  It  is  the  truth  per- 
suasively and  effectively  uttered.  It  is  swaying  the  will, 
and  turning  the  moral  affections,  so  that  men  shall  not 
only  hear  and  understand,  but  yield  and  obey.  Augus- 
tine's great  precept  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  his  "  De 
Doctrina  Christiana"  is  that  the  preacher  should  seek 
"  to  bend  men  to  action."  He  is  to  use  the  truth  of 
God  with  the  whole  momentum  of  his  strength,  to  move 
rrfen  off  their  bases  of  sinful  repose  and  save  them.  He 
is  to  regard  sin  as  an  evil  to  be  mortally  feared  and  es- 
caped from  as  soon  as  possible,  through  repentance  and 
the  forgiveness  of  the  gospel.  Nothing  short  of  this  can 
satisfy  the  preacher  of  Christ  ;  therefore  it  has  been  said 
by  Vinet,  that  the  pastoral  work  is  a  finer  test  of  the 
Christian  ministry  than  preaching,  because  it  is  the  un- 
ambitious and  unselfish  seeking  for  wandering  souls  and 
bearing  them  back  to  the  fold  of  Christ. 

Here  the  preacher's  own  personality  comes  in.  The 
Word  of  God  forms  the  divine  circle  in  which  preaching, 
or  the  human  element,  freely  moves  and  operates.  Men 
themselves  come  to  have  power.  "  Filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  they  speak  with  the  Spirit's  potency.  They  be- 
come charged  with  a  life-giving  influence,  though  of  an 
instrumental  nature  and  degree.  Through  their  preach- 
ing souls  are  begotten  unto  eternal  life.  The  apostle 
says  (i  Tim.  i  :  12),  "  And  I  thank  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord, 
who  hath  enabled  (energized,  empowered)  me,  for  that 
he  counted  me  faithful,  putting  me  in  the  ministry." 
The  Scotch  preacher  McCheyne  said,  "  I  had  rather 
beg  my  bread  than  preach  without  success  ;"  and  he 
meant  by  success  winning  men  to  Christ. 


254  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

Christ  himself  draws  through  the  preacher,  and  truth 
thus  becomes  a  persuasive  power.  Preaching  is  truly  a 
personal  application  of  divine  truth  to  the  personal  needs, 
sorrows,  and  doubts  of  sinful  souls,  so  that  they  shall  be 
led  to  the  source  of  all  life — it  is  a  real,  Christ-like  sym- 
pathy with  men. 

"  Some  preachers  have  only  sympathy  with  ideas,  with 
organized  thought,  with  religious  system-making,  and 
philosophy,  so  that  men  have  felt  the  strength  of  their 
preaching,  but  have  not  been  moved  by  it." 

What  even  is  that  which  we  call  eloquence,  if  it  does 
not  move  men  with  the  movement  of  the  orator's  own 
mind  ;  if  it  does  not  persuade  men  by  the  force  of  the 
orator's  own  will  ? 

' '  Qiiidaliiid  est  eloqiieiitia  nisi  motiis  aninics  contimius  f '  ' 

The  French  Roman  Catholic  preacher  of  Notre  Dame, 
De  Ravignan,  said  to  his  theological  students,  "  What  is 
pulpit  eloquence  ?  It  is  the  power  of  spoken  words  to 
draw  souls  to  their  Creator.  This  is  the  highest  of  minis- 
tries, the  most  difificult  and  full  of  danger.  We  must  then 
highly  value  it,  and  bring  to  it  a  pious  union  with  God, 
joined  with  deep  humility.  He  that  would  speak  merely 
as  a  man,  wastes  his  strength  on  human  passion  ;  but  to 
speak  as  an  apostle  we  must  go  to  those  holy  passions 
which  I  will  call  supernatural — love  of  God,  determina- 
tion to  save  souls,  the  strong,  all-pervading  zeal  which 
springs  from  love  of  poor  sinners  ;  in  one  word  God,  God 
alone,  sought  and  gained  through  courageous  and  endur- 
ing labor,  through  ardent  and  painful  prayer.  Here  you 
see  the  whole  secret  of  an  apostolic  man.  There  are  many 
who  will  preach  from  what  they  carry  in  their  heads  ; 
few,  very  few,  speak  from  their  heart,  from  their  bowels 


'  "  Cicero  De  Oratore," 


OBJECT  OF  PREACHING.  255 

of  charity.  The  truth  soon  becomes  known  ;  even  the 
people  of  the  world  are  not  mistaken  about  it.  In  sub- 
ordination to  this  interior  principle,  the  source  of  sacred 
eloquence  is  always  the  Holy  Scriptures.  You  know 
them  well  ;  what  you  mean  to  preach  is  the  word  of 
God.  To  produce  emotion  is  to  feel  it.  This  true 
emotion  is  gained  first  in  prayer,  then  in  the  perusal  of 
some  favorite  author,  then  in  a  strong  will  to  attain 
a  proposed  end.  "  Do  not  hesitate  to  give  yourselves 
full  scope  ;  speak  directly  to  the  passions  in  every  tone  by 
turn  ;  by  unlooked  for  strokes  move  the  depths  of  your 
hearers'  hearts.  True  eloquence  is  a  drama.  Look  at 
Bourdaloue  himself,  how  his  logic  carries  us  away  ;  how 
earnest  he  is,  while  he  seems  so  calm.  Look  above  all 
at  the  matchless  Paul  ;  he  throws  himself  into  the  scene, 
he  interrupts  himself,  he  apostrophizes  his  audience,  he 
prays,  he  weeps,  he  loves."  ' 

The  radical  difficulty  with  men  is  not  so  much  a  per- 
version of  the  reason  as  of  the  will.  Men  are  more  wil- 
ful than  they  are  irrational.  Here  the  preacher  is  to 
direct  his  main  assault  ;  to  pour  in  his  mightiest  forces  of 
persuasion  and  carry  the  citadel  by  the  violence  of  a 
divine  love.  He  is  to  aim  too  at  immediate  results. 
Life  is  not  long  enough  to  preach  proprieties  and 
semblances.  He  is  to  persuade  men  to  be  reconciled 
to  God,  not  next  year,  nor  to-morrow,  but  to-day.  A 
living  successful  preacher  says:  "Preaching  is  the  art 
of  producing  religious  convictions  and  emotions  in  an 
audience.  Its  effect  must  be  immediate,  or  it  fails  in 
preaching.  It  must  be  understood  at  once.  Every 
thought  must  be  clear  before  another  is  presented. 
Thus  repetitions  are  often  necessary,   the  expression  of 


'  De  Pontlevoy's  "  Life  of  De  Ravignan,"  p.  261. 


256  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

the  same  idea  in  various  forms,  and  occasionally  the 
repetition  of  the  very  same  words.  Whatever  inter- 
feres with  earnestness  of  manner  should  be  disregarded. 
The  whole  mind  should  be  bent  on  the  special  work  to 
be  done,  and  that  work  is  immediate  impression.  Just 
so  far  as  the  preacher's  mind  is  diverted  from  this  object 
by  his  anxiety  in  respect  to  the  grammatical  accuracy  of 
his  words,  and  the  perfect  taste  of  every  expression,  just 
so  far  will  the  sermon  fail  in  impressiveness." 

John  Foster,  it  is  said,  grieved  in  spirit  because  he  had 
never,  to  his  knowledge,  been  the  means  of  the  conversion 
of  one  soul  ;  but  who  can  doubt,  who  knew  aught  of  his 
life,  that  John  Foster  had  the  spirit  of  a  true  preacher  ; 
and  any  theory  of  preaching  which  leaves  out  of  view  this 
self-forgetting  earnestness  of  the  orator  for  God,  this 
deathless  resolve  to  pluck  men  from  the  destruction  of 
sin,  to  break  the  chains  of  death  and  bring  them  at  once 
into  the  liberty  of  Christ,  is  a  false  theory.  Dr.  Finney 
was  as  sure  of  his  success  in  regard  to  hundreds  of  souls, 
as  John  Foster  was  doubtful  about  one  ;  but  whichever 
was  right,  without  this  devoted  aim,  preaching  is  en- 
feebled. It  becomes  a  weak  thing,  far  below  the  man- 
lier purpose  of  the  reformer,  the  earnest  author  and 
journalist,  the  poet  even,  if  he  be  such  a  consecrated 
nature's  priest  as  was  William  Wordsworth.  The 
scholarly  culture  and  attainments  of  such  a  brilliant 
young  man  as  John  Coleridge  Patteson,  missionary  bishop 
of  the  Melanesian  Islands,  were  nothing  compared  with 
his  Christian  manhood,  his  single-eyed  zeal,  which  taught 
him  to  be  as  simple  as  a  child  in  his  instruction  of  those 
brutified  savages,  afar  off  in  the  lonely  isles  of  the 
Pacific,  which  led  him  to  homely,  self-denying  labors  for 
their  salvation  and  at  last  to  death  from  their  hands. 
This  "  one  thing"  a  minister  of  Christ  must  do. 


OBJECT  OF  rKEACIIING.  257 

The  preachirif^,  then,  that  does  not  actually  convert  men 
from  the  love  of  sin  to  the  love  of  God,  nor  aims  to  do  so,  is 
a  religious  play-acting,  and  an  ecclesiastical  sham.  Surely 
the  most  respectable  preaching  incur  churches  which  has 
dropped  out  of  it  the  element  of  persuasion,  has  lost  that 
which  gives  edge  to  "  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,"  making 
it  powerful  to  search  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the 
heart  that  sin  shall  be  disclosed,  that  the  love  of  Christ 
shall  be  borne  in  to  its  secret  depths,  that  the  way  of 
eternal  life  shall  be  opened.  But  as  the  word  of  God  is 
addressed  to  the  whole  of  the  man,  and  not  to  one 
aspect  of  his  nature  exclusively,  so  we  have  not  attained 
to  the  most  comprehensive  and  apostolic  idea  of  preach- 
ing in  that  which  ends  simply  in  conversion  ;  since  it 
must  goon  into  something  higher  still,  in  the  establishing 
and  perfecting  of  a  holy  life  in  the  soul  ;  and  how  broad 
is  the  scope  of  preaching  in  this  regard  !  The  cross  is  the 
sun  of  righteousness,  the  central  orb  that  fills  time  and 
space  with  its  beams,  that  searches  human  nature  through 
and  through,  and  casts  light  on  all  the  varied  interests  of 
human  life  and  all  the  aspects  of  human  character  ;  on 
everything,  in  fact,  where  there  can  be  a  right  and  a 
wrong,  and  where  responsibility  is  incurred  by  the  moral 
choices  of  rational  beings.  The  final  object  of  preaching, 
then,  is 

3.    Edification. — This  is  to  build  up  the  soul  (a  slower 

process)   in   righteousness  and  true  holiness.     It   is  the 

work   of   soul-culture.      It   is   the   formation    ^  ..^ 

Edification. 

and  completion  of  Christian  character.      It  is 
rooting  out  the  spirit  of  selfishness,  malice,  and  impurity, 
and  the  training  up  of  just,  upright,  merciful,  honorable, 
chaste,  loving,  self-denying,  heroic  and  Christ-like  men. 

The  work  of  pastors  and  teachers  of  the  gospel  is  laid 
down  comprehensively  in  Ephesians  4  :  12,  13,  "  For  the 


358  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for 
the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ  :  till  we  all  come  in  the 
unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of 
God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature 
of  the  fulness  of  Christ."  It  is  the  work  of  educating 
men  into  the  benevolent  will  of  God  until  they  shall 
come  in  the  fulness  of  their  faith  unto  the  perfection  of 
Christ.  This  is  real  salvation.  What,  indeed,  is  a  sal- 
vation that  does  not  save  from  the  power  of  sin — of  all 

•  sin — and  that  does  not  bring  into  the  perfection  of  moral 
purity  ?  The  immediate  aim  of  preaching  is  soul-enlighten- 

i  ment  and  soul-conversion  ;  but  the  final  object  of  all  true 
preaching  is  soul-edification — the  formation  of  a  true 
manhood  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  looks,  therefore,  to  the 
transforming  of  the  whole  man — the  reason,  will,  and 
affections — into  the  spirit  of  that  divine  charity  which 
is  the  bond  of  perfectness.  Thus  the  meaning  and  end  of 
preaching  is  really  Christ.  Christ  the  ideal,  as  well  as  Christ 
the  source  of  spiritual  life.  The  perfect  manifestation 
of  Christ  to  men,  to  trust,  love,  and  obey,  is  the  fulness 
of  the  gospel.  This  Christ-like  ideal  of  something  spiritu- 
ally apprehended  though  yet  practically  unattained,  is  the 
inspiring  object  of  all  true  Christian  preaching,  which, 
since  Christianity  is  a  life  in  contrast  to  a  system  of  phi- 
losophy, does  not  end  in  the  enunciation  of  doctrine,  im- 
portant as  sound  doctrine  is,  but  in  the  real  implantation 
and  nourishing  of  a  higher  life  ;  and  it  is  to  be  remarked  in 
this  connection,  that  the  influence  of  motives  which  spring 
from  Christ's  own  life,  is  the  chief  means  of  the  spiritual 
edification  of  which  we  speak.  The  secret  of  power  and  of 
hope  lies  in  a  faith  inwrought  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  not  so 
much  in  a  creed  as  in  a  person  ;  and  the  union  of  the  divine 
with  the  human  in  the  person  of  Christ  has  made  all  things 
possible  for  us  in  the  realm  of  moral  and  spiritual  life. 


OBJECT  OF  PREACHING.  259 

In  this  love  incarnate,  this  love  given  to  us,  there  is 
power  to  purify  and  redeem  the  human  race.  While  we 
despair,  at  least  in  this  life,  of  searching  to  the  bottom  of 
this  mystery,  of  defining  or  explaining  it  by  any  theory, 
yet  the  mystery  of  love  working  out  the  salvation  of 
men  by  its  own  utmost  sacrifice  is  there,  and  in  this 
divine  love  must  not  the  preacher  be  baptized  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  who  is  the  "  Spirit  of  Christ,"  before  he 
can  preach  "  Christ,  and  him  crucified  "  ?  How  else,  in- 
deed, can  he  have  the  hope  of  redeeming  the  world  or 
a  single  soul  ?  But  with  it  he  can  hope  for  the  realiza- 
tion of  a  full  salvation  in  preaching  the  gospel  to  men  ; 
of  a  redemption  of  their  whole  nature  from  the  power  of 
sin,  and  can  labor  for  that  end  so  that  these  souls  shall 
grow  up  into  Christ,  who  is  the  head,  and  bring  forth  all 
the  beautiful  fruits  of  holy  living  ;  and  thus  gathering 
together  regenerated  minds  into  the  unity  of  Christ,  he 
may  labor  successfully  to  build  up  also  a  Christian  church, 
and  a  Christian  state,  and  a  Christian  civilization,  com- 
prehending all  that  is  true,  pure,  great,  and  divine  in  the 
world,  and  which  shall  be  a  synonym  for  the  kingdom  of 
God  on  earth.  In  order  to  bring  about  the  great  con- 
summation which  we  have  mentioned,  of  restoring  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth  through  preaching,  mere 
knowledge,  skill,  learning,  philosophy,  and  eloquence 
are,  we  at  once  perceive,  not  sufficient.  There  must  be 
on  the  part  of  the  preacher  the  holy  mind,  consecrated 
to  Christ,  filled  by  his  spirit,  inspiring  others  with  his 
life  and  love,  in  order  thus  to  impart  this  new  life,  and  to 
"  beget  men  in  Christ  Jesus  ;"  and  on  the  part  of  the 
hearer,  faith,  love,  and  obedience  to  fit  him  to  receive  the 
truth,  and  to  be  built  up  in  it.  The  preacher  is  only  a 
medium  ;  but  he  is  a  true  medium  between  the  soul  and 
Christ.       He    must    himself  be    in    soul-fellowship    with 


26o  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Christ,  and  in  him  the  spiritual  must  predominate  over  the 
intellectual.  If,  indeed,  we  speak  of  intellect  in  the 
pulpit,  there  is  not  enough  of  it,  and  it  is  dull  com- 
pared with  what  it  should  be  when  God  calls  for  the  best, 
and  compared  with  the  force,  fertility,  and  genius  often 
exhibited  in  the  other  sciences  and  professions.  But  the 
great  defect  is  the  want  of  fire.  It  is  the  want  of 
apostolic  earnestness.  The  Christian  Church  fails  to  lay 
its  grasp  on  the  passing  generations  and  upon  some  of  the 
most  brilliant  and  powerful  minds.  It  is  sometimes 
affirmed  that  Christ  need  not  be  in  every  sermon  ;  but  as 
Christ  is  the  life  and  centre  of  divine  truth,  and  thus 
must  be  the  end  of  all  preaching,  how  can  he  be  really 
absent  from  any  true  sermon  ?  To  exhibit  the  truth  of 
Christ  in  its  beauty  and  completeness  requires  the  spirit 
of  Christ  in  the  preacher,  his  spirit  of  love  ;  otherwise  the 
unction,  the  renewing  and  edifying  element,  is  lacking. 
Thus  all  preaching  should  be  "  a  word  of  the  Lord,"  and 
should  have  this  characteristic  of  the  apostolic  preaching, 
that  it  leads  the  entire  being  into  the  eternal  life  of 
Christ.  Now  to  bring  these  scattered  elements  of  preach- 
ing together  into  one  comprehensive  whole,  we  would 
say  that  the  true  object  and  design  of  Christian  preach- 
ing, in  the  largest  and  most  stimulating  view  of  it, 
is  :  So  to  set  forth  divine  truth,  the  gospel  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  with  such  clearness,  simplicity,  sympathy, 
power,  fulness,  love,  and  utter  dependence  upon  and 
union  with  the  "  Spirit  of  Christ,"  as  to  persuade  men 
to  receive  it  truly  to  the  conversion  of  their  souls, 
and  to  the  upbuilding  of  their  whole  life  and  character 
in  the  faith  of  Christ  ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  enlighten, 
renew,  and  sanctify  them  unto  eternal  life  in  the  king- 
dom of  God's  dear  Son. 


THIRD    DIVISION. 
PREPARATION  FOR  COMPOSING   SERMON. 

Sec.    12.    Considerations  preparatory  to  the  work  of  preach- 
ing. 

As  a  preliminary  step  it  is  well  to  gain  some  idea  of  the 
real  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  work  of  preaching,  and 
of  the  best  methods  of  going  about  to  accomplish  it. 
Let  us  then  notice  briefly  some  of  the 

I.   Difficulties  of   preaching. — The   prevalent  ideas  in 
regard  to  the  easiness  of  the  preacher's  work  have  been 
increased    by  the   now   common  and    com- 
mendable habit  of  lay-preaching,  by  which 

.  preaching, 

those  who   feel  prompted  to  mstruct  others 

become  religious  teachers  and  exhorters  of  the  people  ; 
and  by  the  universal  custom  of  address  in  prayer-meet- 
ings and  on  Sunday-school  and  moral-reform  platforms. 
We  do  not  say  that  many  admirable  sermons  are  not 
preached  in  this  way,  and  great  good  done  ;  but  from 
this  or  other  causes  the  regular  work  of  the  preacher  has 
been  depreciated  in  value,  and  a  style  of  preaching  which 
is  easy  rather  than  thoughtful,  sensational  rather  than 
searching,  pointed  rather  than  penetrating  or  profound, 
has  been  the  result  ;  and  this  also  has  served  to  diffuse 
the  false  impression  that  preaching  is  not  very  difficult, 
and  can  be  done  by  any  one. 

Now  to   make   a  good   sermon   requires  many  things 


262  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

which  a  merely  literary  composition  does  not  demand. 
It  requires  especially  four  things  :  i.  Scholarly  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures.  2,  Insight  and  judgment  as  to  choice 
of  subject,  so  that  it  shall  fit  the  wants  of  the  congrega- 
tion. 3.  Power  to  set  forth  moral  truth  appropriately, 
implying  a  certain  just  knowledge  of  human  nature  and 
the  human  mind.  4.  Spiritual  apprehension  of  the  truth, 
or  a  heart-deep  religious  experience. 

One  should  thus  possess  some  real,  scholarly  knowledge 
of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures,  so  that  he  can 
elucidate  a  passage  of  the  Bible  clearly  from  the  original. 
Otherwise  he  is  at  the  mercy  of  every  gainsayer. 
Then  out  of  a  vast  mass  of  subjects,  like  an  endless 
armory  of  weapons,  he  should  know  how  to  choose  his 
theme  so  as  to  adapt  it  to  men's  hearts,  consciences, 
and  present  wants  ;  this  requires  sagacity  and  trained 
perception,  or  some  maturity  of  mind  and  character  ; 
the  truth  must  be  reasonably  and  clearly  treated,  so 
that  it  shall  not  be  perfunctorily,  but  edifyingly  set  forth, 
in  a  way  fitted  to  teach  and  make  a  lasting  impression  ; 
and  then  spiritual  truths,  the  most  difficult  of  all  to  com- 
prehend and  teach,  should  be  so  truly  comprehended  by 
the  preacher  as  to  be  made  plain  to  the  spiritual  natures 
of  others.  There  must  be  that  religious  experience,  that 
condition  of  heart,  that  love  of  Christ  and  of  men  which 
is  essential  for  the  production  of  effective  preaching, 
which  qualities  are  not  always  possessed  by  scholars  and 
eloquent  men. 

He  who  begins  this  work,  therefore,  should  expect  hard 
work  ;  it  will  draw  upon  all  his  energies.  There  was  a 
proverb  among  those  who  presided  at  the  Grecian  mys- 
teries that  "  the  wand-bearers  are  many,  but  few  are  in- 
spired," To  be  inspired  one  must  go  to  the  sources  of 
inspiration.     He  must  give  himself  to  God  and  his  work. 


PRErARA  TION  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.  263 

The  young  preacher  should  know  that  his  profession, 
intellectually  and  morally,  is  a  difficult  profession  ;  its 
work  is  never  interrupted,  never  finished,  and  requires 
the  whole  energies  of  his  being,  up  to  the  last  day  of  his 
ministerial  life.  One  is  not  only  to  write  sermons,  but 
he  is  to  write  better  sermons,  to  make  continual  improve- 
ment in  preaching.  He  is  never  to  think  that  he  has 
done  his  best,  or  done  what  he  could.  He  is  never  to  sup- 
pose that  he  has  exhausted  revelation.  He  is  always  to  be 
a  student  and  a  seeker.  He  is  always  to  be  learning  new 
methods  of  communicating  truth.  He  is  never  to  give 
himself  to  an  indolent  repose.  He  has  entered  on  a  war- 
fare from  which  there  is  no  dismissal.  He  has  conse- 
crated himself,  body  and  soul,  to  this  work.  If  he  does 
not  study  his  mind  loses  its  invention,  and  its  resources 
are  exhausted.  Sermon-writing  is  an  all-absorbing  labor. 
One  cannot  preach  and  do  anything  else.  If  we  wish  to 
succeed  as  preachers  we  cannot  fall  back  on  old  sermons. 
New  exigencies,  new  applications  of  truth  are  continually 
arising,  and  he  who  does  not  make  preaching  his  one  life- 
work  will  fall  behind  others  who  give  themselves  wholly 
to  it,  and  he  cannot  also  hope  to  reap  the  reward  of  the 
faithful  laborer.  Although  it  is  an  ungracious  thing  to 
say  it,  there  are  ministers  who  are  not,  and  who  do  not 
seek  to  be,  successful.  They  do  not  study  Hebrew  and 
Greek.  They  do  not  think  severely.  They  will  not  \ 
labor  to  preach  well  ;  they  will  not  learn  even  the  ex- 
ternal and  collateral  means  and  accomplishments  of  their 
profession  ;  they  will  not  learn  how  to  write  ;  they  will 
not  trouble  themselves  about  the  simplest  rhetorical 
culture  ;  they  will  not  even  mend  awkward  habits 
of  delivery  ;  they  will  not  correct  a  false  tone  or  a  harsh 
pronunciation  ;  they  will  not  take  pains  to  acquire  the 
art    of    public   speaking,  so    that    they    can    address  an 


264  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

assembly  upon  any  subject  with  effect  ;  but,  above  all, 
they  will  not  grapple  with  the  real  difficulties  of  setting 
forth  divine  truth  effectively  to  men,  which  requires 
thought,  clear  arrangement  of  ideas,  spiritual  meditation, 
and  prayer.  They  are  doing,  perhaps,  all  other  things 
except  giving  their  undivided  energies  to  preaching. 
They  say,  perhaps,  that  there  is  no  need  of  taking  so  much 
trouble  about  these  things,  for  they  will  be  helped  at  the 
time  of  speaking  ;  but  they  who  say  this  are  those  who, 
above  all  others,  need  a  thorough  training  ;  for  in  God's 
work,  as  well  as  in  man's,  those  who  do  not  work  are  not 
helped  ;  and  do  such  preachers  deserve  to  be  successful  ? 

Let  us,  then,  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  a  great 
thing  to  preach  the  gospel  ;  and  yet  we  do  not  mean,  by 
that,  preaching  great  sermons. 

Indeed  too  much  is  said,  it  may  be,  in  theological  semi- 
naries about  the  need  of  taking  so  long  a  time  to  write  a 
sermon — a  fortnight,  or  a  month,  or  two  months.  We 
sometimes  hear  such  remarks  from  those  who  desire  to  say 
a  strong  thing  in  order  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of 
young  men  the  necessity  of  steady  thought  and  care 
in  preaching.  No  one  can  think  more  of  this  than  we 
do  ;  but  even  this  may  be  exaggerated.  While  there  is 
truth  in  this  language,  it  also  may  greatly  mislead. 
Sermonizing  is  a  difficult  thing  ;  but  let  us  remember 
that  the  real  difficulty,  the  hard  labor  in  sermonizing,  is 
in  the  preparation  of  the  mind  for  the  work.  It  is  in  the 
previous  training.  If  the  mind  itself  is  philosophically 
trained,  if  it  knows  how  to  think,  if  it  is  thoroughly 
accomplished  in  hermeneutics,  and  in  the  art  of  com- 
position, then  sermons,  especially  if  they  are  short  ser- 
mons, may  be  composed  rapidly  ;  and,  as  a  general 
thing,  two  good  and  useful  sermons  may  be  prepared 
weekly.     Of  course  an  elaborate  occasional  sermon  may 


PREPARATION  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.  265 

take  weeks  and  even  months  to  prepare.  It  is  well  to 
have  such  a  studied  discourse — the  results  of  one's  best 
thinking  and  most  careful  scholarship — always  on  the 
stocks.  It  is  well,  while  a  student  is  in  the  seminary,  for 
him  to  write  some  such  sermons,  embodying  the  results 
of  his  theological  and  philological  studies  as  well  as  life- 
long religious  experience.  They  form  a  good  capital. 
They  lie  like  investments  in  the  bank  that  may  be  drawn 
from  now  and  then,  and  that  always  yield  good  interest. 

But  a  man  should  be  so  constant  a  student  of  the  Bible, 
and,  we  might  add,  so  thoroughly  versed  in  theological 
studies,  as  to  be  able,  on  an  emergency,  to  draw  out  quite 
rapidly  a  clear  and  instructive  sermon  on  almost  any  prac- 
tical topic.  The  main  difficulty  is  in  making  himself  intel- 
lectually and  spiritually  a  preacher ;  then  the  individual 
sermon  comes  readily  and  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  one 
should  learn  his  trade.  He  should  know  how  to  compose 
sermons.  He  should  be  always  thinking  upon  his  sermon- 
work.  Life  is  so  short,  and  man's  powers  so  limited, 
that  he  can  do  but  one  thing  well,  and  the  preacher  should 
therefore  not  expect  to  do  aught  else  but  preach.  This 
continual  labor  bestowed  upon  the  composition  of  ser- 
mons is  very  taxing  at  first,  but  it  will  grow  easier  (though 
perhaps  never  easy)  as  one  grows  to  have  power  in  the 
pulpit,  and  the  way  opens  to  freedom,  light,  and  success. 
As  one  gets  nearer  to  souls,  he  is  repaid  for  his  anxious 
thought.  Young  preachers,  in  fact  all  preachers  who 
have  not  learned  the  best  methods,  are  apt  to  be  dream- 
ers in  their  studies.  They  think  that  musing  on  a  text, 
or  a  doctrine,  as  a  subject  of  thought,  is  thinking  upon 
it,  is  investigating  it,  is  developing  it  into  clear  forms  of 
instruction  and  edifying  lessons  of  duty  and  salvation. 
Something  more  is  needed  than  musing. 

We  will  only  add,  in  regard  to  the  difficulties  of  preach- 


266  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

ing,  and  the  hard  labor  which  it  involves,  that  an  enthu- 
siasm for  our  work  will,  with  God's  help,  carry  us  through 
it  ;  and  the  work  will  be  found  to  be  sweet,  the  sweetest 
of  all  works,  the  fullest  of  reward  and  true  satisfaction. 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  also  to  look  at  some  of  the 
prevalent  faults  of  preaching,  so  that  one  may  avoid  them 
in  his  preparation  for  the  pulpit. 

2.   F'aults  of  preaching. — Among  the  most  prominent  of 
these  may  be  mentioned  (i)  preaching  without  a  strong  im- 
pelling purpose.     To  preach  merely  to  serve 
^     au  s  o       ^  professional  necessity,  or  to  provide  a  dis- 
preaching.  c       ^x.      c      a  •         •  i 

course  for  the  bunday  service,  is  surely  an 

unworthy  object  ;  for  there  should  be  in  every  sermon 
some  definite  purpose  to  convert  men  and  to  build  them 
up  in  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  There  should  be  a  solemn 
feeling  of  responsibility  to  God,  who  has  set  us  in  the 
ministry  to  be  fishers  of  men  and  not  fishers  for  our  selfish 
interests.  In  his  preaching  the  true  preacher  grasps  men's 
spirits  and  draws  them  unto  Christ,  that  they  may  be 
warmed  into  new  life  ;  and  there  should  be  this  spiritual 
grasp  in  every  sermon,  this  laying  hold  of  the  souls  of  men 
to  bring  them  to  Jesus  Christ  that  they  may  truly  live. 
"  The  Judge  standeth  at  the  door." 

(2.)  Preaching  abstruse  and  learnedly  expressed  ser- 
mons. A  sermon  should  be  intensive  rather  than  exten- 
sive or  pretensive  ;  there  should  be  in  it  more  pith  and 
point  than  elaborate  argumentation.  While  a  sermon 
should  always  have  that  in  it  which  appeals  to  the  reason, 
for  religious  truth,  as  well  as  natural  truth,  is  a  matter  of 
thought,  and  is  cognizable  in  so  far  as  it  is  rational  and  ap- 
peals to  the  laws  of  the  mind,  yet  a  sermon  is  not  a  mere 
argument.  It  is  a  thoughtful  and  earnest  presentation  of 
truth,  drawn  with  care  and  faithfulness  from  the  Scrip- 
tures, in    forms   of   the   most    effective  speech,  and    in- 


PREPARATION  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.  267 

tended,  in  its  language  and  illustrations,  to  reach  the 
popular  mind,  and  to  persuade  men — men  of  all  classes 
and  divers  characters— to  a  certain  course  of  action  for 
their  highest  good  ;  since  their  understandings  often 
may  be  convinced — are  perhaps  so  already — while  their 
wills  are  to  be  turned,  and  their  affections  attracted  by 
and  fastened  on  higher  objects.  The  sermon  is  a  relig- 
ious address  designed  for  a  definite  end,  and  not  a  relig- 
ious treatise,  saying  all  that  can  be  said  in  the  way  of 
discussion  upon  a  given  theme.  A  common  audience 
does  not  come  together  to  follow  out  the  painfully  ex- 
tended and  intricate  processes  of  a  subtle  and  analytic 
mind  ;  and  so  also  a  too  discursive  style,  which  sweeps 
over  a  vast  deal  of  ground,  which  deals  with  truth  philo- 
sophically and  abstractly,  merely  as  a  theme  of  learned 
research  or  even  of  interesting  thought,  and  not  plainly 
and  pointedly,  wastes  the  precious  time  allotted  in  the 
on-rush  of  this  world's  life  to  the  preacher  of  truth. 
There  may  be  learning  and  the  results  of  critical  schol- 
arship in  the  discourse  ;  but  the  sermon  should  not 
have  the  tone  of  learning,  for  learning  deals  with  the 
past,  and  "  knowledge  should  be  turned  into  life."  The 
divinely  practical  element  in  a  sermon  should  sweep 
everything  along  with  it.  One  should  not  stop  to  ex- 
hibit his  learning  ;  and  of  what  great  importance  is  it, 
after  all,  to  one  who  has  a  higher  end  in  view  ;  who  has 
to  gain  his  hearer  and  persuade  him  to  serve  the 
Lord  ?  We  would  make  a  difference  between  learn- 
ing and  scholarship,  as  they  are  manifested  in  ser- 
mon-writing. We  need  the  last  ;  but  we  should  not 
exhibit  the  first  ;  or,  to  quote  from  Mr.  Ruskin  upon 
a  different  theme,  "The  artist  need  not  be  a  learned 
man  ;  in  all  probability  it  will  be  a  disadvantage  to 
him  to  become   so  ;    but  he  ought,    if    possible,    to  be 


263  HO  MILE  TICS    PROPER. 

an  educated  man  ;  that  is,  one  who  has  understand- 
ing of  his  own  uses  and  duties  in  the  world,  and 
therefore  of  the  general  nature  of  the  things  done  and 
existing  in  the  world,  and  who  has  so  trained  himself  or 
been  trained,  as  to  turn  to  the  best  account  whatever 
faculties  or  knowledge  he  has.  The  mind  of  an  educated 
man  is  greater  than  the  knowledge  it  possesses  ;  it  is  like 
the  vault  of  heaven,  encompassing  the  earth  which  lives 
and  flourishes  beneath  it  ;  but  the  mind  of  an  uneducated 
and  learned  man  is  like  an  India-rubber  band,  with  an 
everlasting  spirit  of  contraction  in  it,  fastening  together 
papers  which  it  cannot  open  and  keeps  from  being 
opened." 

(3.)  Preaching  sermons  addressed  to  the  fancy  and  the 
nervous  sensibilities.  This  is  what  Shakespeare  would  call 
"  taffeta-writing."  It  is  not  dealing  with  plain  thought, 
from  which  true  ideas  are  evolved,  and  true  principles 
brought  out  ;  but  it  is  striving  to  rival  brilliant  and 
popular  lecturers,  who,  by  continually  working  upon 
their  lectures,  have  made  them  like  polished  gems, 
and  have  taken  everything  out  of  them  which  is  not  brill- 
iant and  immediately  effective.  It  is  also  what  is  com- 
monly called  "  sensational  preaching  ;"  since  it  is  deter- 
mining to  produce  a  sensation  on  the  nerves  by  words, 
rather  than  on  the  conscience  and  heart  by  thought  and 
feeling.  It  is  writing  from  the  motive  of  exciting  men 
for  the  moment,  and  of  catching  their  attention  by  novel- 
ties, rather  than  of  doing  them  good  for  eternity.  And 
it  is  also  appealing  to  a  lower  class  of  motives,  leaving 
men's  higher  nature  untouched.  It  is  true  that  the  mass 
of  men  will  be  attracted  by  this  style,  and  perhaps  en- 
courage it  ;  and  yet,  sooner  or  later,  even  they  will  tire 
of  it  ;  for  it  is  turning  the  sanctuary  into  a  lecture-hall 
or  theatre  ;  and  the  results  of  this  kind  of  preaching  are 


PREPARATION  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.  269 

indeed  as  superficial  as  those  of  the  popular  lecturer  and 
player  ;  for  if  there  are  conversions,  they  are  of  a  doubt- 
ful sort,  it  being  poor  seed  sown  in  bad  soil.  In  the 
words  of  another  writer,  "  This  whole  business  of  preach- 
ing and  hearing  for  entertainment  may  be  told  in  these 
two  words,  'deceiving  and  being  deceived.'  "  We  do 
not  say  that  a  preacher  should  not  attract  his  audience, 
nor,  if  he  has  anything  original  in  thought,  or  powerful 
in  imagination,  or  moving  in  truth,  that  he  should  repress 
it  ;  on  the  contrary,  let  him  be  himself  ;  let  him  use 
every  power  that  he  possesses  ;  let  his  thought  be  fresh, 
and  let  him  make  a  sensation  if  he  can  ;  but  let  him  not 
preach  for  the  special  purpose  of  making  a  sensation,  of 
captivating,  entertaining,  exciting,  drawing.  How  waste- 
ful the  efforts  of  such  a  preacher  !  How  terrible  the 
responsibility  he  incurs  !  If  the  objection  be  urged  that 
the  sermon  of  an  opposite  character  fails  to  interest  an 
audience,  it  springs  probably  from  other  reasons  :  the 
preacher  has,  perhaps,  failed  to  inspire  a  true  and  manly 
taste  in  his  congregation  ;  he  does  not  put  genuine 
thought,  feeling,  or  spiritual  earnestness  into  his  preach- 
ing ;  there  is  nothing  to  attract  in  it  ;  there  is  no  unction  ; 
he  copies  his  ideas  and  feigns  his  emotions,  and  how  can 
he  create  a  legitimate  interest  in  this  way?  The 
preacher  should  therefore  resist  the  temptation  (which  is 
one  of  the  first  to  assail  him)  to  make  a  fine,  attractive 
sermon  ;  but  let  him  rather  strive  to  make  ^  plain  one, 
and  if  there  is  aught  of  literary  or  awakening  power  in 
him,  it  will  shine  out  in  due  time.  In  saying  this  we 
would  not  be  understood  as  saying  anything  against  pul- 
pit eloquence  ;  but  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  draw  the 
line  between  the  true  and  the  false — the  true  sensational 
and  the  false  sensational.  We  find  no  fault  with  him 
who  strives,  for  the  sake  of  truth,  to  say  a  thing  elo- 


2  70  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

quently  ;  but  if  he  says  anything  in  order  to  be  eloquent, 
to  make  himself  attractive,  to  build  up  his  reputation,  to 
produce  an  excitement  for  his  or  its  own  sake,  to  gain 
the  name  of  an  eloquent  preacher,  to  make  preaching  a 
vehicle  for  personal  and  popular  influence — here  we  de- 
tect the  false  style  ;  it  is  thoroughly  and  in  the  lowest 
sense  human  and  not  divine. 

In  regard  to  preaching  to  the  emotions — this  is  an  im- 
portant question  by  itself.     There  is  certainly  a  true  and 

legitimate  preaching  addressed  to  the  emo- 
Preaching  to     .         ,  ,11  ,  .  . 

the  emotions.  ^^°"^^  nature,  and  all  true  preachmg  aims 
more  or  less  directly  to  reach  the  feelings, 
which  in  one  sense  lie  at  the  root  of  religion,  since  relig- 
ion is  a  want,  a  desire,  a  yearning  of  the  heart  before  it 
secures  a  thought  or  an  intellectual  conception.  Preach- 
ing is  not  merely  a  calm,  unimpassioned,  intellectual  pres- 
entation of  truth,  arousing  no  sensibility  and  producing 
no  mental  excitation.  On  the  contrary,  it  ought  to 
awaken  feeling  of  the  right  kind.  Feeling  is  not  what  we 
should  fear,  but  feeling  of  a  false  kind,  springing  from 
superficial  sensibilities  and  wrong  motives,  or  from  a 
wrong  way  of  appealing  to  the  religious  sensibilities. 
The  true  principle  in  regard  to  preaching  to  the  emotions 
seems  to  be  this,  that'  the  mere  aim  to  arouse  feeling 
through  preaching — making  that  the  object — is  not 
enough  ;  but  the  aim  of  the  preacher  should  be  to 
awaken  that  genuine  and  profound  feeling  which  leads 
the  mind  to  act — the  feeling  itself  being  of  little  value 
which  does  not  end  in  a  determination  or  action.  We 
'must  make  men  feel  to  make  them  act.  So  sodden  are 
they  in  sin,  so  hardened  in  worldliness,  prejudice,  and 
error,  that  they  must  be  made  to  fear,  yearn,  desire,  per- 
haps agonize  with  desire,  before  they  will  be  moved  to 
seek  God  and  truly  repent.     The  fires  must  be  kindled  in 


PREPARATION  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.  271 

the  depth  of  the  soul  before  its  silent  machinery  will 
begin  to  operate,  and  before  it  will  make  any  true  advance 
toward  God  and  a  better  life.  But  feeling  that  does  not 
tend  to  action,  that  ends  only  in  itself,  that  has  no  real 
influence  on  the  soul's  choices,  that  does  not  lead  to  re- 
pentance, faith,  and  holiness,  that  is  but  a  temporary 
thing,  that  is  a  fire  blazing  up  and  then  going  out — 
that  is  not  a  worthy  end  of  preaching — it  is  sensational 
preaching  of  the  false  kind  ;  and  it  may  be  the  occasion 
of  incalculable  mischief,  even  as  a  burned  district  in  the 
woods  lies  barren  and  waste  for  years. 

In  order  to  produce  this  true  emotion,  of  which  we 
speak,  the  preacher  (as  the  familiar  Horatian  rule  is)  must 
himself  feel.  The  French  preacher  De  Ravignan,  in  a 
passage  before  quoted,  says  :  "  To  produce  emotion  we 
must  feel  it.  Do  not  hesitate  to  give  yourselves  full 
scope  ;  speak  directly  to  the  passions,  to  every  tone  by 
turn  ;  by  unlooked-for  strokes  move  the  depths  of  your 
hearers'  hearts." 

(4.)  Preaching  unstudied  and  loose-jointed  sermons. 
Antiquity  and  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  have  made 
preaching  on  the  Lord's  day  a  matter  of  great  and 
eternal  moment,  a  reasoning  of  God  with  man,  '*  the 
savor  of  life  unto  life,  or  the  savor  of  death  unto  death." 

True  preaching  must,  therefore,  still  continue  to  be 
thoughtful,  profound,  authoritative  ;  it  doubtless  may 
and  should  have  more  of  popular  application,  naturalness, 
and  life  than  it  sometimes  has  ;  it  may  and  should  come 
down  to  the  sympathies  and  comprehensions  of  all  men  ; 
but  the  preparation  for  the  pulpit  should  be  a  severe  exer- 
cise, and  the  sermon  should  deal  seriously  with  great 
thoughts,  principles,  and  themes  ;  it  should  not  play 
with  them. 

De  Ravignan,  again,  says  to  young  preachers  in  regard 


272  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

to  writing  sermons,  "  Draw  up  a  plan,  lay  down  the  course 
of  the  ideas,  their  advance  from  one  to  another,  their 
final  effect.  This  is  what  is  most  important,  it  is  almost 
all.  The  writing  is  nothing  when  the  work  is  performed. 
We  must  not  fear  trouble.  Be  laborious,  patient,  endur- 
ing ;  at  this  price  you  will  gain  that  fulness  of  force  which 
convinces  and  persuades.  The  labor  of  composition 
should  be  a  martyrdom,  and  ought  to  be  felt  to  be  such, 
for  without  this  an  apostolic  life  is  worth  little  or  noth- 
ing. Trouble  must  be  taken  if  we  hope  to  do  any  good. 
What  fatigue  and  dejection  !  Often  sluggishness  and 
inability  will  fall  the  mind  ;  there  will  be  no  results.  It 
is  well  ;  it  makes  us  humble  and  devout.  In  these  times 
we  have  recourse  to  God.  We  must,  of  course,  employ, 
spend  all  that  we  have.  We  could  scarcely  wish  to  have 
genius  save  for  the  purpose  of  glorifying  God  by  saving 
souls,  for  without  this,  genius  is  nothing.  Talent,  at 
least,  of  whatever  sort,  we  must  employ,  but  trample  it 
beneath  our  feet.  We  ought  to  wish  to  succeed,  to  do 
well,  very  well.  Listen  to  the  fertile  maxim  addressed 
to  us  by  St.  Ignatius  :  *  We  must  do  everything  as  if  we 
were  doing  it  alone,  and  look  to  God  for  all  success,  as  if 
we  had  done  nothing.'  He  says  again  :  '  For  the  pulpit 
toil  is  everything  ;  while  sloth,  on  the  contrary,  hinders 
all  success.'  " 

Let  us,  then,  ever  strive  to  avoid  this  fault  of  com- 
posing too  easy  and  off-hand  sermons,  that  cost  us  little 
or  no  hard  thinking.  Let  us  shun  this  fatal  habit  of 
facility.  The  age  demands  thought.  Let  us  resolve  to 
give  the  best  labor  of  our  minds  to  this  work,  even  if  we 
do  not  and  cannot  always  make  great  sermons. 

But,  is  it  objected,  how  can  a  minister,  with  all  his 
other  duties,  prepare  two  such  thoughtful  and  faithful 
sermons  a  week  ?     This  is  a  chronic  question,  and  we  can 


PREPARATIOy  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.  273 

answer  it  only  by  asking  another,  "  How  have  the  best 
preachers  done  this?"  In  some  way  or  another  they 
have  contrived  to  preach  solidly,  attractively,  effectively, 
twice  on  Sunday,  and  every  time  they  preach.  White- 
field  preached,  on  an  average,  ten  times  a  week,  for  the 
space  of  thirty-four  years,  and  John  Wesley  nearly  the 
same  number  for  a  much  longer  time  ;  and  Wesley's 
sermons,  if  not  Whitefield's,  were  carefully  composed. 
A  young  minister  doubtless  has  a  difficult  task  at  first  ; 
but  by  the  habitual  and  systematic  study  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, by  severe  labor,  by  occasional  exchanges,  by  some- 
times repeating  his  sermons,  and  by  not  preaching  more 
than  twice  on  Sunday,  he  can  accomplish  this,  as  others 
have  done.  And,  as  a  general  rule,  let  him  preach  reason- 
ably short  sermons,  if  at  the  same  time  they  are  good  ser- 
mons. After  all  that  has  been  said  about  putting  honest 
work  into  our  sermons,  this  will  not  be  misunderstood. 
But  there  is  a  prevalent  fallacy  that  the  longer  a  sermon 
the  more  thought  it  has.  On  the  contrary,  it  may  be 
very  long  and  very  dull.  1 1  may  be  vox  et  prcetcrea  nihil — 
nothing  but  words.  Surely,  if  a  dull  sermon,  the  longer  it 
is  the  worse  it  is.  A  short  sermon,  too,  may  be  vapid — 
may  amount  to  nothing — but  if  full  of  force  and  thought, 
a  short  sermon  is  better  than  a  long  one.  Where  both  are 
good,  a  short  one  is  the  better.  Attention  is  not  wearied 
and  impression  is  not  effaced.  Macaulay  says  that  at 
the  famous  trial  of  the  seven  bishops.  Lord  Somers, 
then  a  young  man,  arose  and  spoke  a  little  over  five 
minutes,  and  his  reputation  as  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
orators  of  England  was  established.  Put  thirty  for  five 
and  the  preacher  need  not  err  greatly.  One  thought, 
one  duty,  fully  handled,  fully  illustrated,  fully  brought 
home  to  the  conscience  and  heart,  is  enough  for  one 
sermon  ;    and  would    that    young    ministers,   as  well   as 


2  74     ■  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

older  ones,  could  have    the    sagacity,  humility,  and    in- 
dependence to  see  and  follow  this  rule  ! 

As  to  the  length   of  sermons,  we  would   add  a  word. 

The    history    of    this    subject    is    somewhat    suggestive 

as  well  as  amusing.     The    sermons  of  the 

Length  of    ^^^^   ^^.^  centuries  varied  in  length  accord- 
sermons.  . 

mg  to  preacher,   place,  and  circumstances, 

as  they  do  now  ;  but  Moule  remarks  (p.  56)  that  "  as 
a  general  rule  the  discourses  of  the  Greek  fathers  are 
the  longer,  and  of  the  Latin  fathers  very  considerably 
the  shorter  of  the  two.  The  delivery  of  the  latter  could 
rarely  have  occupied  more  than  half  an  hour,  often  not 
more  than  ten  minutes."  Anselm  is  said  to  have  given 
this  advice,  "  semi  Jiorac  tcinpus  communitcr  non  cxcedat." 
In  B/ackwood's  Magazine  of  February,  1869,  there  are 
some  curious  observations  on  the  length  of  sermons. 
The  writer  says,  "  Sermons  in  early  times  seem  to  have 
been  comparatively  short.  Some  of  these  extant  by  the 
Latin  fathers  would  not  occupy,  as  they  stand,  more  than 
ten  minutes,  or  quarter  of  an  hour  ;  many  of  Bede's 
consist  only  of  a  very  few  lines.  Therefore  we  are  not 
safe  in  resting  upon  such  data — as  these  are  evidently 
short-hand  notes.  Long  sermons  were  the  product  of 
the  post-reformation,  especially  of  Puritan  times.  Yet 
some  of  the  earlier  divines  were  lengthy.  Bishop  Alcock 
preached  at  St.  Mary's,  Cambridge,  "  a  good  and  pleasant 
sermon,"  which  lasted  from  one  o'clock  to  half  past  three. 
Sometimes  the  audiences  in  olden  times,  in  England, 
scraped  their  feet  and  thus  compelled  the  preacher  to  de- 
sist. The  time  was  measured  by  the  hour-glass  standing  on 
the  pulpit,  and  when  the  hour  was  finished,  the  preacher 
turning  it  over  would  "invite  his  hearers  to  another  glass. 
Bishop  Alderson,  however,  was  strongly  opposed  to  long 
sermons  ;  when  once  asked  his  opinion  as  to  the  proper 


PREPARATION  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.    *     275 

length  of  a  discourse,  he  answered,  "  twenty  minutes, 
with  a  leaning  to  the  side  of  mercy."  Isaac  Barrow's 
Spital  sermon  was  three  hours  and  a  half  long.  Edward 
Irving,  in  later  days,  also  preached  a  sermon  of  three 
hours  and  a  half  in  length  for  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  in  Tottenham  Court  Road  Chapel.  He 
paused  thrice,  and  the  devout  and  patient  congregation 
sang  hymns  in  the  interval,  but  they  never  forgave  him 
that  sermon."  Perhaps  the  principle  of  Christian  for- 
giveness could  not  apply  in  such  a  case.  Notwitlistand- 
ing,  however,  such  exceptional  cases,  the  testimony  of 
history  in  all  ages  of  the  Christian  Church  is  decidedly  in 
favor  of  reasonably  short  sermons.  There  is,  in  fact,  no 
rigid  rule  to  be  laid  down  ;  subjects  make  their  own  time 
in  treating  them  ;  some  subjects  imperatively  demand 
lengthy  treatment  ;  but  whatever  our  theory  of  preaching 
may  be,  whether  we  view  preaching  as  a  constituent  part 
of  worship,  or  simply  as  a  didactic  exercise,  religious  feel- 
ing and  good  sense  point  generally  to  a  forcible  brevity 
in  preaching,  though  some  topics  will  not  suffer  them- 
selves to  be  handled  in  a  short  time.  Mullois,  in  his 
Pastor  and  People,"  says  sensibly  "  Believe  me,  and 
I  speak  from  experience,  the  more  you  say  the  less  will 
the  hearers  retain  ;  the  less  you  say  the  more  they  will 
profit.  By  dint  of  burdening  their  memor>%  you  will 
overwhelm  it  ;  just  as  a  lamp  is  extinguished  by  feeding 
it  with  too  much  oil,  and  plants  are  choked  by  immoder- 
ate irrigation. ' '  When  a  sermon  is  too  long,  the  end  erases 
the  middle  from  the  memory,  and  the  middle  the  begin- 
ning. Even  mediocre  preachers  are  acceptable,  provided 
their  discourses  are  short  ;  whereas  even  the  best  preach- 
ers are  a  burden  when  they  speak  too  long.  A  Japanese 
proverb  is  to  the  effect  that  "  few  orators  are  sufficiently 
talented  to  speak  a  short  discourse."     Let  us  strive  to  be 


276    •  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

weighty  if  we  preach  short  sermons.  Let  us  strive  to 
pack  more  thought  and  fewer  words  into  them,  not  for- 
getting the  motto,  "  si  gravis  brcvis." 

Luther's  advice  in  homely  German  to  a  young  preacher 
was,  "  Tritt  frisch  auf — tJius  maul  aiif — hoor  bald  auf" 
(Stand  up  cheerily  —  speak  out  manfully  —  leave  off 
speedily). 

3.  Process  of  composing  a  sermon. — We  have  no  in- 
tention of  attempting  to  lay  down  an  invariable  method 
of  composing  sermons.      One   man  will  have 

Process  of    ^^^     method    and     another     another  ,  the 

composing  a  .  .  ........  .  ^, 

greatest  variety    and     mdividuahty    m  the 
sermon.        a                             j                                         j 

treatment  of  divine  truth  is  to  be  encour- 
aged ;  it  is  a  blessed  thing  that  we  now  and  then  have 
a  Bushnell  or  a  Phillips  Brooks  in  the  pulpit,  as  well  as 
a  Kirk  or  a  Spurgeon.  Earnestness  and  brains  will 
make  their  own  methods  ;  but  we  would  simply  now  offer 
a  hint  or  two  that  may  possibly  be  useful  to  beginners. 

We  will,  in  the  first  place,  quote  two  or  three  passages 
from  Dr.  Alexander's  "  Thoughts  on  Preaching  :" 
I      "I  wish  I  could  make  sermons  as  if  I  had  never  heard 
I  or  read  how  they  are  made  by  other  people.     The  forma- 
tion of  regular  divisions  and  applications  is  deadly." 

"  In  writing  or  speaking,  throw  off  all  restraint.  Writ- 
ing from  a  pre-composed  skeleton  is  eminently  restrain- 
ing. It  forces  one  to  parcel  out  his  matter  in  a  forced, 
Procrustean  way.  The  current  is  often  thus  stopped  at 
the  very  moment  when  it  begins  to  gush.  The  ideal  of  a 
discourse  is  that  of  a  flow  from  first  to  last." 

"  The  true  way  is  to  have  an  object,  and  to  be  full  of 
it.  I  never  could  understand  what  is  meant  by  mak- 
ing a  sermon  on  a  prescribed  text.  The  right  text  is  one 
which  comes  of  itself  during  reading  and  meditation  ; 
which  accompanies  you  in  walks,  goes  to  bed  with  you. 


PREPARATION  FOR   COMPOSING   SERMON.   '      277 

and  rises  with  you.  On  such  a  text  thoughts  swarm  and 
cluster  like  bees  upon  a  branch.  The  sermon  ferments 
for  hours  and  days,  and  at  length,  after  patient  waiting 
and  almost  spontaneous  working,  the  subject  clarifies 
itself,  and  the  true  method  of  treatment  presents  itself  in 
a  shape  which  cannot  be  rejected." 

In  these  remarks  there  is  much  truth,  and  they  are 
eminently  suggestive  ;  but  we  might  be  allowed  to  differ 
from  them  in  some  particulars,  especially  in  regard  to  the 
use  of  a  plan.  We  agree  entirely  with  the  advice  that  the 
plan  should  not  be  made  to  restrain  or  confine  the  thought  ; 
it  should  not  be  the  rigid  application  of  the  rule  and 
square  to  every  sermon  ;  but  it  is  nevertheless  useful  as  a 
means  of  arranging  thought,  and  of  employing  our  mate- 
rial to  the  best  advantage. 

The  ability  to  methodize  thought  is  a  great  power.  If 
the  preacher  wishes  to  produce  a  permanent  impression 
he  must  cultivate  the  methodizing  and  organizing  power, 
the  skill  to  group  his  ideas  to  the  best  advantage.  He 
must  train  himself  in  planning  for  an  end,  and  in  care- 
fully following  the  right  processes  necessary  to  the  attain- 
ing of  that  end.  This,  to  be  sure,  belongs  more  especially 
to  the  art  of  preaching — to  its  artistic  side  ;  but  it  is  not 
without  its  moral  benefits  ;  and  when  one  has  trained 
himself  to  think  with  method  ;  when  he  has  cultivated 
liimself  in  his  own  art  so  that  he  is  at  home  in  it,  so  that 
he  is  skillful  in  laying  out  his  materials  for  sermons,  as  an 
engineer  is  in  making  surveys,  or  a  general  in  mapping 
out  the  plan  of  a  battle,  then  he  thinks  less  about  the 
mere  art  ;  and  his  spiritual  emotions  run  freely  in  these 
prescribed  channels.  Professor  Shedd  justly  commends 
the  forming  of  what  he  calls  "  a  homiletical  habit  ;"  and 
his  words  are  so  valuable — we  think  none  more  so  in  his 
book — that  we  would  quote  them  in  full. 


278  HOMILETICS   PROPER, 

"  The  preacher  ought  to  acquire  and  cultivate  a  homi- 
letical  habitude.  Preaching  is  his  business.  For  this 
he  has  educated  himself,  and  to  this  he  has  consecrated 
his  whole  life.  It  should,  therefore,  obtain  undisputed 
possession  of  his  mind  and  his  culture.  He  ought  not 
(save  in  peculiar  cases)  to  pursue  any  other  intellect- 
ual calling  than  that  of  sermonizing.  He  may,  there- 
fore, properly  allow  this  species  of  authorship  to  monop- 
olize all  his  discipline  and  acquisitions.  It  is  as  fitting 
that  the  preacher  should  be  characterized  by  a  hom- 
iletical  tendency,  as  that  the  poet  should  be  charac- 
terized by  a  poetical  tendency.  If  it  is  proper  that  the 
poet  should  transmute  everything  that  he  touches  into 
poetry,  it  is  not  less  proper  that  the  preacher  should 
transmute  everything  that  he  touches  into  sermon. 

"  This  homiletical  habit  will  appear  in  a  disposition  to 
construct  plans,  to  examine  and  criticise  discourses  with 
respect  to  their  logical  structure.  The  preacher's  mind 
becomes  habitually  organific.  It  is  inclined  to  build. 
Whenever  leading  thoughts  are  brought  into  the  mind, 
they  are  straightway  disposed  and  arranged  into  the  unity 
of  a  plan,  instead  of  being  allowed  to  lie  here  and  there, 
like  scattered  boulders  on  a  field  of  drift.  This  homiletic 
habit  will  appear,  again,  in  a  disposition  to  render  all  the 
argumentative  and  illustrative  materials  which  pour  in 
upon  the  educated  man,  from  the  various  fields  of  science, 
literature,  and  art,  subservient  to  the  purpose  of  preach- 
ing. The  sermonizer  is,  or  should  be,  a  student,  and  an 
industrious  one,  a  reader,  and  a  thoughtful  one.  He 
will  consequently,  in  the  course  of  his  studies,  meet  with 
a  great  variety  of  information  that  may  be  advantageously 
employed  in  sermonizing,  either  as  proof  or  illustration, 
provided  he  possesses  the  proper  power  to  elaborate  it, 
and  work  it  up.     Now,  if  he  has  acquired  this  homiletical 


PREPAKATIOX  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.         279 

mental  habit,  this  tendency  to  sermonize,  all  this  material, 
which  would  pass  through  another  mind  without  assimila- 
tion, will  be  instantaneously  and  constantly  taken  up  and 
wrought  into  the  substance  and  form  of  sermons  ;  and 
will  make  themselves  manifest  in  plans,  metaphors,  illus- 
trations, etc.,  in  the  preacher's  commonplace  book."  ' 

Before  giving  any  suggestions  as  to  the  process  of  ser- 
mon-making (which  will  be  indeed  but  brief  hints,  for,  in 
discussing  the  structure  and  composition  of  a  sermon  we 
shall  soon  enter  more  particularly  into  this  whole  subject), 
we  would  call  attention  to  a  note  by  Dr.  Gregory,  the 
biographer  of  Robert  Hall,  on  Robert  Hall's  method  of 
composing  his  sermons.  "  That  course  was,  very  briefly 
to  sketch,  commonly  upon  a  sheet  of  letter-paper  (in 
some  cases  rather  more  fully),  the  plan  of  the  proposed 
discourse,  marking  the  divisions,  specifying  a  few  texts 
and  sometimes  writing  a  few  sentences  ;  especially  on 
those  points  where  an  argument  could  not  be  adequately 
stated  without  great  technical  correctness  of  language. 
This  he  regarded  as  '  digging  a  channel  for  his  thoughts 
to  flow  in.'  Then,  calling  into  exercise  the  power  of 
abstraction,  which  he  possessed  in  a  degree  I  never  saw- 
equalled,  he  would,  whether  alone  or  not,  pursue  his 
trains  of  thought,  retrace  and  extend  them  until  the 
whole  were  engraven  on  his  mind  ;  and,  when  once  so 
fixed  in  their  entire  connection,  they  were  never  after 
obliterated.  The  result  was  on  all  occasions  the  same  : 
so  that,  without  recurring  to  the  ordinary  expedients,  or 
loading  his  memory  with  words  and  phrases,  he  uniformly 
brought  his  mind,  v/ith  an  unburdened  vigor  and  elas- 
ticity, to  bear  upon  its  immediate  purpose,  recalling  his 
selected  train  of  thought,  and  communicating  it  to  others, 


Shedd's  "  Homiletics,"  p.  loS. 


2  8o  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

in  diction  the  most  felicitous,  appropriate,  and  expressive. 
This  was  uniformly  the  case  with  regard  to  the  tenor  and 
substance  of  his  discourses  ;  but  the  most  striking  and 
impressive  passages  were  often,  strictly  speaking,  extem- 
poraneous."  ' 

Let  us  suppose  that  in  studying  or  reading  the  Scrip- 
tures, a  text  has  suggested  itself  as  an  appropriate  theme 
of  discourse,  although  we  know  that  there  is 
o    ^^  j.^j^   jj^   ^^  manner  and  mode  of  these 
method  of 
composition    suggestions  ;  for  the  subject  of  a  sermon  may 

come  to  one  in  travelling,  or  upon  a  walk, 
or  in  pastoral  visitation,  or  upon  his  bed,  or  at  the  bed- 
side of  the  sick,  almost  as  readily  as  in  the  study  ;  yet 
texts  and  subjects  of  preaching  that  are  suggested  to  one 
j  m  his  regular  daily  sttidy  and  meditation  of  the  Word  of 
God,  are  certainly  the  truest,  richest,  and  most  profitable 
subjects  for  preaching  ;  for  they  seem  thus  to  come  to  us 
by  the  direct  inspiration  of  the  Word  and  Spirit  of  God. 
Having  thus  fixed  upon  a  text,  we  would  make  every- 
thing— first,  last,  and  middle — of  the  study  of  the  text. 
We  have  spoken  already  of  interpretation  as  a  matter 
of  primary  importance.  Interpretation  is  the  main  pillar 
in  any  true  homiletical  system.  The  inspiration  of  the 
preacher  is  to  be  derived  from  the  word  of  God.  It  is 
not  to  be  derived  from  other  books.  Not  only  a  study  of 
the  text,  but,  as  has  been  said,  a  systematic  study  of  the 
Scriptures — daily,  weekly,  yearly,  pursuing  some  plan  of 
biblical  study — is  needed  to  make  the  best  and  most 
useful  kind  of  sermons.  The  exact  meaning  of  the 
original  text,  then,  should  first  of  all  be  obtained. 
The  mind  should  be  filled  with  its  teaching,  and  after- 
ward there  may  be  its  application  made  to  human  hearts, 


'  "  Life  and  Works  of  Robert  Hall,"  Eng.  ed.,  v.  i.  p.  9. 


PREPARATION  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.  281 

with  fresh  illustrations  drawn  from  the  study  and  knowl- 
edge of  men,  addressing  them  in  w^ays  and  forms  that 
common  men  understand — making  the  old  truth  to  burn 
anew  in  their  minds,  and  to  meet  them  in  their  every- 
day thoughts  and  avocations  ;  doing  this  with  a  supreme 
reliance  on  the  Spirit  of  God — this,  we  think,  is  the  right 
way  to  preach. 

But  a  positive  portion  of  divine  truth,  a  definite  sub- 
ject, drawn  from  the  patient  study  of  the  text,  has  thus, 
it  is  supposed,  been  presented  to  the  mind,  which  must 
have  something  to  work  upon  ;  for  thought  depends 
upon  knowledge,  and  reasoning  is  simply  a  deduction 
from  previous  facts  of  which  the  knowing  faculties  have 
taken  cognizance.  Now,  although  the  subject  is  thus  be- 
fore the  mind,  the  simple  theme  is  not  itself  sufificient  to 
keep  the  mind  working  ;  for  to  begin  at  once  to  wTite 
upon  this  subject  is  preposterous  ;  to  catch  up  an  idea, 
or  half  idea,  and  compose  an  edifying  discourse  upon  it, 
without  more  study  and  reflection,  is  to  heap  up  words 
without  wisdom. 

After  obtaining  the  theme,  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to 
learn  something  about  it  ;  to  read,  to  investigate,  to 
think  upon  it  ;  to  draw  out  from  the  best  sources,  and 
all  sources,  the  real  knowledge  of  the  subject  ;  to  recall, 
revolve,  and  develop  it  by  patient  thought.  The  idea 
which  is  contained  within  the  text  may  be  taken  out  of  its 
immediate  connection  with  the  text,  and  conceived  of  in 
its  wider  revelations  with  other  truth  ;  and  not  only  the 
reasons  for,  but  the  objections  that  may  be  brought  against 
it,  may  be  contemplated.  The  subject  should  be  looked 
at  in  its  whole  length  and  depth  ;  all  the  possible  side- 
light should  be  let  in  ;  and  thus  the  mind  works  in  and 
through  it  till  the  whole  is  leavened,  till  the  simple 
thought  is  fully  developed. 


282  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

All  this,  perhaps,  may  be  done  (if  one  is  preparing  a 
written  sermon)  without  putting  pen  to  paper  ;  for  the 
great  thing  is  to  get  the  mind  thoroughly  aroused,  every 
faculty  of  it,  and  all  directed  to  one  particular  object. 
This  is  the  momentum  which  is  required  to  carry  one 
through.  And  this  should  not  be  a  mere  intellectual  ex- 
citement ;  it  should  be  the  stirring  of  the  depths  of  the 
nature  and  of  the  soul. 

"  A  purely  intellectual  force  may  arrest  and  interest  an 
audience,  but  taken  by  itself  it  cannot  persuade  their 
wills  or  melt  their  hearts.  The  best  sermons  of  a  preacher 
are  generally  those  composed  under  the  impulse  of  a  lively 
state  of  religious  feeling." 

We  would  also  add  that  the  thought  of  the  audience 
should  be  always  present — the  great  object  for  which  the 
sermon  is  composed — the  particular  persons  it  may  be 
that  it  is  designed  to  reach,  so  that  this  human  element 
should  run  like  a  warm,  vitalizing  current  through  all  the 
processes  of  writing,  and  preparing  to  write,  and  the 
preacher  in  this  way  will  not  fall  into  scholastic  methods. 
He  will  not  be  taken  up  with  the  development  of  the 
thought  merely,  but  with  its  application  to  men,  and  to 
the  great  ends  of  preaching. 

When  one  is  ready  to  compose  his  sermon,  the  books 
he  has  read,  the  commentaries  he  has  consulted,  the  notes 
he  has  made,  might  be  laid  aside  for  a  little  while,  in 
order  to  give  the  mind  time  to  recover  its  independent 
tone  and  action,  and  to  think  for  itself.  At  this  stage  we 
would  suggest  that  one  should  rapidly  write  down  his 
ideas,  and  the  thoughts  he  has  collected  together  or 
originated  upon  the  subject,  however  diverse  from  each 
other,  and  without  any  particular  regard  to  connection, 
or  arrangement.  Say  to  one's  self  "what  definite 
thoughts,  after  all   this  study  and  investigation,  have    I 


PREPARATION  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.  283 

really  gathered  on  this  subject?"  If  there  is  anything 
so  gained,  no  matter  what  it  is,  let  him  put  it  down  ;  and 
these  more  or  less  disconnected  thoughts  will  form  the 
nucleus  of  the  sermon,  out  of  which  order  will  finally 
spring  ;  this  is  the  first  step  out  of  confusion  toward 
order  ;  and  in  this  process  the  inner  connections  of  ideas 
will  begin  to  manifest  themselves  more  clearly. 

By  this  time  (and  this  may  not  be  a  long  time)  one  is 
ready  to  form  something  like  a  plan,  because  now  he  has 

the  materials  to  do  it  with.    No  true  sermon 

•    ~  4.     f         1         u    i.  t  •  ^      Place  of  a 

sprmgs  out  of  a  plan,  but  a  plan  sprmgs  out 

of  study  and  thought,  and  it  is  merely  a  help 
in  the  orderly  development  of  a  sermon.  The  difficulty 
concerning  a  plan  has  generally  arisen  from  supposing 
that  inspiration  comes  from  the  plan.  Not  at  all  ;  a  plan 
is  but  an  aid  to  guide  and  rcgnlatc  thought,  and  not  an 
original  source  of  thought ;  and  we  would,  therefore,  not 
entirely  dispense  with  a  plan  ;  for  both  nature  and  reason 
teach  us  that  it  is  indispensable.  Is  not  creation — God's 
discourse — carried  out  on  a  plan  ?  So  every  true  work 
should  have  a  plan,  an  inner  unity,  some  one  idea  to  be 
developed,  some  one  aim  to  be  attained  ;  and  that  should 
guide  and  shape  every  subordinate  detail  to  the  furthest 
and  minutest  ramification  of  the  theme.  As  to  the  ser- 
mon Bourdaloue  said  :  "I  can  forgive  a  bad  sermon 
sooner  than  I  can  forgive  a  bad  outline."  And  how 
often  a  sermon  that  contains  excellent  thoughts,  the 
fruit  of  laborious  study,  yet  falls  absolutely  without 
effect  upon  the  audience  ;  and  the  reason  of  this  is 
that  the  thoughts  are  not  well  arranged,  that  they  are 
mixed  up,  or  are  put  in  some  unnatural  and  illogical 
order.  A  little  labor  spent  in  reconstructing  the  plan, 
■would  make  all  the  difference  between  an  effective  and  an 
ineffective  discourse. 


284  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

A  word  still  further  as  to  plans.  Are  we  to  have  one 
plan  and  no  other,  dividing  a  subject  up  into  regular  divi- 
sions, two  or  three,  or  four  or  thirty,  as  some  old  sermons 
were  divided — with  formal  phrases  to  connect,  and  the 
gaunt  ribs  of  the  skeleton  sticking  out — with  the  introduc- 
tion just  so  long,  and  the  proposition  in  just  such  a  place, 
and  every  transition  regularly  parcelled  out  and  numbered, 
and  the  application  in  a  stereotyped  form  of  words,  first 
to  sinners  then  to  saints,  or  vice  versa  ?  Heaven  forbid  ! 
We  would  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  no  two  sermons  should 
or  could  have  precisely  the  same  plan.  This,  I  know,  is 
contrary  to  the  regular  line  of  homiletical  suggestion,  but 
be  it  so.  We  would  have  every  variety  of  plan — indeed 
the  text  or  the  theme  makes  the  plan  ;  all  we  contend  for 
is,  that  there  should  be  some  clear  and  thoughtful  method 
of  setting  forth  truth  to  the  mind.  A  sermon  cannot  be 
written  confusedly,  without  method  or  purpose.  It  must 
be  a  work  of  thorough,  sometimes  painful  preparation. 
We  would  make  here  one  main  suggestion  in  regard  to 
the  plan  of  a  sermon,  and  that  is  that  the  plan  should 
never  be  one  of  entirely  artificial  construction,  or  one 
superimposed  upon  the  subject  ;  but  a  natural  plan, 
or  one  growing  out  of  the  subject  itself.  It  cannot 
thus  be  the  first  thing  made.  The  plan  should  be 
simply  the  natural  and  logical  order  of  thought  which 
every  subject,  when  rightly  treated,  contains  within 
itself.  It  is  the  true  development  of  the  thought.  We 
would  therefore  abjure  the  whole  race  of  skeletons.  We 
would  throw  contempt  upon  plans  made  to  order.  If  a 
preacher  is  forced  to  take  some  other  man's  plan,  and 
cannot  make  one  for  himself,  the  best  plan  he  can  adopt 
is  to  give  up  preaching  and  find  out  another  way  of  doing 
good.     But  to  return  from  this  digression. 

In  the  mean  time,  while  the  mind  is  busy  in  moulding 


PREPARATION  FOR    COMPOSING   SERMON.  285 

and  fusing  what  has  been  thus  rudely  thrown  together 
into  some  degree  of  just  quantity  and  proportion  ;  truly 
it  were  well  if  the  ordering,  guiding,  and  illumining 
Spirit  were  invoked  to  one's  aid.  The  religious  energies 
should  have  ample  opportunity  to  warm  and  act  upon 
the  subject-matter  of  thought,  and  the  mind  should  be 
kindled  with  the  love  of  Christ,  and  filled  with  the  truth; 
for  no  sermon  should  be  written  without  prayer,  since  no 
true  sermon,  even  if  it  is  not  divinely  originated  and  in- 
spired, should  fail  to  be  guided  by  the  Spirit  of  divine 
wisdom,  truth,  and  grace.  It  is,  moreover,  a  product  of 
all  the  energies  and  affections  of  the  mind,  and  not  of 
the  intellect  only. 

Then,  taking  hold  of  it  with  interest  and  with  absorbed 
attention,  one  should  compose  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
with  a  glow  of  mind,  without  the  least  constraint  or  care 
for  rhetorical  rules,  not  stopping  for  a  moment  to  correct 
or  improve.  Write  a  sermon  sometimes  at  one  sitting. 
Movement  is  a  great  element  in  preaching  as  well  as  in 
everything  else  that  has  life  and  purpose  in  it.  This 
rapidity  is  important  for  the  unity  and  life  of  a  discourse  ; 
for,  let  the  gold  simmer  ever  so  long,  at  last  it  should  run 
out  in  a  continuous  stream. 

The  finishing  of  a  sermon  is  a  matter  requiring  more 
care,  time,  and  deliberation.  Lord  Brougham  wrote  the 
peroration  of  his  argument  on  the  trial  of  Queen  Caroline 
twenty  times  ;  and  even  a  genius  like  Goethe  said  that 
"  nothing  came  to  him  in  his  sleep." 

Now,  it  is  said,  would  you  set  this  forth  as  the  invaria- 
ble method  of  making  a  sermon,  or  of  preparing  to 
preach  ?  By  no  means.  This  is  but  one  method,  and  it 
has  a  more  particular  and  distinct  reference  to  the  written 
and  topical  discourse.  Different  men  have  different  ways 
of  preparation  for  preaching  ;  let  each  one  follow  his  own 


«86  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

method.  We  throw  this  out  only  as  a  hint  toward  some 
practical  way  of  proceeding  to  make  a  sermon,  since  the 
question  is  frequently  asked  by  the  theological  student, 
How  shall  I  go  to  work  to  write  a  sermon?"  But 
when  the  sermon  is  finished  by  the  exercise  of  one's  best 
powers,  let  it  be  finished,  and  let  not  the  mind  continually 
worry  itself  because  it  has  not  reached  its  ideal. 
Apelles,  the  ancient  Greek  painter,  said,  "  he  knew 
when  to  leave  off — an  art  that  Protogenes  did  not  know." 
One's  aim  may  be  high  ;  but  when  he  has  made  an 
honest  effort  to  reach  it  he  should  be  satisfied  ;  for  the 
mind  may  become  absolutely  morbid  upon  this  point, 
and  may  maunder  over  its  imperfect  productions,  when 
the  manlier  way  is  to  say  nothing  and  to  write  better 
sermons. 


FOURTH   DIVISION. 
ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON. 

Sec.    13.    The  Text. 

The  partitioning  of  the  sermon  proper  into  so   many- 
separate  parts,  such  as  text,  introduction,  argument,  etc., 
has  reference,  not  so  much  to  the  voluntary  ^^^^^^^^^^ 
as  to  the  involuntary  plan  of  the  discourse,     "^.^^^^.j^^ 
or  to  those   constituent  elements  of  a  dis- 
course which  absolutely  demand  attention  in  constructing 
a  sermon.     These,  however,  need  not  be  distinctly  and 
formally  expressed  in  every  sermon  ;  but  they  belong  to 
the  essential  structure,  the  osseous  framework  as  well  as 
the  complete  development  of  every  intelligible  discourse, 
which  must  be   made  conformable   to  the   laws   of   the 
human  mind.     In  any  formal  address  we  cannot  dispense 
with  such  grand  divisions  as  the  introduction,  the  argu- 
ment, and  the  conclusion  ;  for  every  true  discourse  must 
have  at  least  a  beginning,  a  middle,  and  an  end  ;  and  the 
beginning  and  end  are  naturally  of  less  dimensions  than 
the  middle.    In  like  manner  every  human  frame  has  a  head, 
body,  and   extremities  ;    every  rock  has  a  foot,  middle, 
and  summit  ;  every  tree  has  a  root,  trunk,  and  crown. 

Vinet's  analysis  of  a  sermon,  in  his  homiletics,  is  some- 
what technical,  and  comprises  the  following  parts  :  i.  The 
Subject  or  the  Text  ;  2.  The  Homily  or  Paraphrase ; 
3.  The  Matter  ;  4.  The  Explication  ;   5.   The  Proof. 

•  A  less  formal  and  technical,  but  more  familiar  and  ex- 
tended analysis,  would  be  the   following,  which  we  shall 


288  HO  MILE  TICS    PROPER. 

adopt:  I.  The  Text;  2.  The  Introduction  ;  3.  The  Ex- 
planation ;  4.  The  Proposition  ;  5.  The  Division  ;  6. 
The  Development  ;  7.  The  Conclusion. 

This  general  method  of  partitioning  a  sermon  varies, 
of  course,  in  different  sermons.  It  depends,  in  fact, 
upon  the  nature  of  the  discourse  itself,  which  develops  its 
outward  form  according  to  its  internal  law,  and  has,  or 
should  have,  an  individual  organic  unity. 

It  is  our  intention  to  exhibit,  not  the  invariable  form 
of  every  individual  sermon,  but  rather  the  parts  that 
legitimately  enter  into,  and  that  generally  should  and  do 
enter  into,  the  composition  of  a  well-constructed  sermon. 
We  shall  try  to  present  the  ideal  sermon  in  all  its  parts  ; 
and  although  the  logical  method  of  partition  is  regarded, 
it  is  chiefly  the  rhetorical,  or  the  practical,  or,  more  truly 
still,  the  natural  order  that  will  guide  us  ;  for,  to  use 
Vinet's  words,  "  the  dynamical  is  preferable  to  the 
mechanical  style  of  sermon." 

We  therefore  now  come  first  to  speak  of  that  funda- 
mental portion  of  the  sermon  from  which  it  is  originated, 
and  on  which  it  is  based — the  Text.  Strictly  speaking, 
the  text  is  not  the  sermon,  but  rather  forms  the  subject 
or  material,  out  of  which  the  sermon  is  drawn  ;  but,  as 
it  is  connected  with  every  portion  of  the  sermon,  and 
has  so  vital  a  part  to  play,  we  prefer,  for  convenience' 
sake  at  least,  to  look  at  it  as  one  of  the  great  component 
parts  of  the  sermon. 

The  Text,  from  texoy  "  to  weave,"  or  icxtus,  a  "  web," 

is  that  which  forms  the  "  web"  or  "  tissue,"  or  "  main 

thread"  of  the  discourse.     The  "  text"  of  a 

e  ni  ion     ggj-mon  is,  of  course,  some  genuine  word  of 
oftext.  .  . 

Scripture  ;    although  the    Bible    itself,  as   a 

whole,  is  eminently  "  the  Text." 

As  to  the  origin  of  and  authority  for  the  use  of  texts  in 


ANAL  Y'SIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         289 

preaching,  we  certainly  find  some  reason  for  the  general 
principle  of  employing  a  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture as  the  ground-work  of  discourse,  in  the  Origi"  of  and 

Old  Testament,  as  in   Nehemiah  8:8,  "So     *"*^°"*y 

for  use  of 
they  read  in  the  book  of  the  law  of  God  dis-        texts 

tinctly,  and  gave  the  sense,  and  caused  them 
to  understand  the  reading  ;"  and  also  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, in  our  Lord's  example  in  Luke  4  :  16-27,  and  in 
the  example  of  the  apostles  in  Acts  13  :  15-44,  ^"d  Acts 
15  :  30,  and  in  other  places.  The  basis  of  the  apostles' 
preaching  was  usually  some  lesson  read  from  the  law  or 
the  prophets  ;  and  as  has  been  said,  "  even  if  Christ  and 
his  apostles  did  not  strictly  conform  themselves  to  the  use 
of  texts,  it  may  be  answered  that  they,  in  their  preach- 
ing, furnished  the  texts  for  us." 

While  the  general  historical  use  of  texts,  or  the  found- 
ing of  the  sermon  directly  upon  the  word  of  God,  is  to 
be  traced  back  to  the  earliest  ages,  the  use  of  the  single 
brief  text  in  the  more  confined  manner  of  our  times,  as 
standing  for  the  particular  theme  of  the  discourse,  is 
ascribed  to  the  Presbyter  Musaeus  of  Marseilles,  in  the 
fifth  century.  It  was,  however,  by  no  means  the  uni- 
form custom  of  preachers  in  the  first  centuries,  nor  even 
down  to  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  to  employ  specific 
texts  in  preaching,  although  about  the  time  of  Luther 
the  custom  was  quite  generally  adopted. 

"In  the  Christian  Church,  the  use  of  a  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture as  the  ground  of  a  discourse,  an  '  auctoritee,'  as 
Chaucer  tells  us  it  was  called  in  his  time,  is,  probably 
coeval  with  the  set  discourse  itself  ;  though,  in  the  ser 
mons  of  the  great  preachers,  both  of  the  Eastern  and 
Western  churches,  we  find  sometimes  two  texts  prefixed, 
and  sometimes  none  at  all."  ' 


'  Moore's  "  Thoughts  on  Preaching,"  p,  78. 


290  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

The  fact  is,  that  the  use  of  a  text  or  of  a  definite  por- 
tion or  lesson  of  Scripture,  as  the  theme  of  Christian 
preaching,  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  earliest  times, 
and  it  has  not  been  seriously  opposed,  because  it  seems  so 
in  harmony  with  the  great  design  of  preaching,  which  is 
the  interpretation  and  the  publication  of  the  divine  word 
to  men.  The  text  in  ancient  times  consisted  of  a  longer 
passage  than  is  now  used,  since  expository  preaching 
was  the  prevailing  style  ;  but,  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
in  England,  the  practice  of  brief  texts  was  common. 
Thus  some  preachers  would  write  a  dozen  or  twenty 
sermons  on  a  very  short  passage  of  Scripture  ;  but  now 
a  reaction  is  going  on  toward  the  use  of  longer  texts 
again  ;   which  is  a  healthy  reaction. 

As  to  the  objections  to  the  use  of  texts,  Vinet  himself 

says  that  "  what  gives  a  Christian  character  to  a  sermon 

is  not  the  use  of  a  text,  but  the  spirit  of  the 

Objections         etcher.'" 

to  the  use  ,         ,<    ,  r  •     ,        , 

of  texts  's>'A.y?>  also,      the  use  of  isolated  texts, 

joined  to  the  necessity  of  never  preaching 
without  a  text,  has  certainly  in  its  rigor  and  absoluteness 
something  false,  something  servile,  which  narrows  the 
field,  confuses  the  thought,  puts  restraint  upon  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  preacher."  "^  For  a  perfect  defence  of  the 
use  of  texts,  he  thinks  that  every  text  should  contain  a 
compilete  subject,  and  every  subject  should  find  a  com- 
plete text.  As  every  sermon,  he  argues,  rests  upon  a 
thesis,  whicTi  is  an  abstract  truth  complete  in  itself  ;  then 
a  text,  to  be  what  it  should  be,  should  contain  a  perfect 
theme  ;  and  few  texts  do  this.  Vinet,  however,  on  the 
whole,  argues  for  the  use  of  texts,  as  a  custom  sanctified 
by  the  practice   of  the   Church,  and   as  affording   more 


I  "  Homiletics,"  p.  96.  -  V^inet,  "  Homiletics,"  p.  81. 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SE RATON.         291 

advantages  than  disadvantages.  But  to  bring  these  ob- 
jections into  more  specific  statements  : 

I.  The  use  of  a  text  prevents  the  unity  of  the  dis- 
course. One  must  follow  and  explain  his  text,  however 
he  may  violate  the  rules  of  rhetorical  art.  Here  the 
objection  rests  upon  the  fact  that  the  sermon  is  to  be 
necessarily  built  upon  the  rules  of  classical  eloquence,  is 
to  be  a  perfect  discourse,  preserving  the  unities  of  ancient 
art.  But  this  idea  of  a  sermon,  even  if  admissible,  was, 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  lectures  upon  the  history  of  preach- 
ing, one  of  later  introduction,  and  did  not  belong  to  it 
originally,  and  is  not  essential  to  it  ;  its  essence  being 
simply  an  address  aiming  to  bring  the  message  of  God 
to  bear  effectively  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the 
people. 

But  even  if  the  sermon  be  a  true  oration,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  orators  of  antiquity  had  no  infallible  truth  to 
speak  from  as  a  basis  ;  if  they  had  possessed  this,  they 
would  doubtless  have  reasoned  from  it.  All  writings  to 
them  were  of  no  higher  authority  than  their  own 
thoughts  ;  they  had  no  inspired  word  of  wisdom  to  draw 
from.  Yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  practice  of  speaking 
from  some  text,  or  definite  proposition,  was  frequently 
the  custom  of  Greek  and  Roman  orators.  Demosthenes 
almost  always  spoke  upon  some  special  summons,  or  in- 
dictment, or  carefully-worded  motion,  introduced  into  a 
deliberative  assembly,  which  served  him  for  a  text.  And 
this  has  continued  to  be  the  custom  in  forensic  and  parlia- 
mentary address  formed  upon  classic  models  ;  men  speak 
to  a  point  of  law,  a  special  motion  or  resolution,  or  else 
their  speaking  lacks  definiteness  and  unity. 

But  we  argue  further  that  the  true  use  of  the  text  posi- 
tively does  promote  the  unity  of  a  sermon.  The  main  truth 
of  the  text,  however  complex  the  passage  may  be,  should 


292  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

form  the  directive  and  unifying  law  of  the  sermon.  It  is 
not  a  true  sermon  which  simply  presents  the  exegesis  of  the 
text — which  merely  explains  it  ;  but  that  is  a  true  sermon 
which  develops  the  text,  and  which  is  moulded  in  all  its 
parts  by  one  organic  principle  of  life  that  springs  from 
the  inspired  word. 

2.  That  the  use  of  a  text  confines  the  discourse.  The 
idea  is,  that  a  short  text  cannot  afford  enough  matter 
for  a  long  discourse  ;  and  thus  the  mind  of  the  speaker 
must  be  continually  fettered  by  tlie  narrow  requirements 
of  his  text  ;  it  cannot  act  with  perfect  freedom. 

One  answer  to  this  is,  that  it  is  a  good  thing  to  compel 
the  speaker  to  concentrate  his  thoughts  and  to  restrain 
himself  from  rambling  discourse.  This  is  not  an  en- 
feebling but  an  enriching  process.  One  goes  over  less 
surface,  but  he  sinks  deeper.  We  answer  again  that 
there  are  few  texts  which  do  not  contain  the  substance 
of  more  truth  and  of  larger  discourse  than  most  men  are 
capable  of  drawing  from  them.  This  objection  is  found- 
ed on  the  idea  that  the  Scriptures  are  a  book,  like  a 
human  book,  capable  of  exhaustion.  Besides  this,  the 
literal  and  servile  following  out  of  a  passage  is  not  re- 
quired. This  following  out  of  a  text,  word  by  word,  and 
step  by  step,  without  an  inner  grasp  of  its  meaning,  is, 
after  all,  but  a  superficial  treatment  of  it  ;  it  is  what 
Hagenbach  calls  "  mosaic-preaching,"  or  making  small 
bits  of  sermons  on  every  member  of  the  text — arranging 
these  along  together,  sticking  them  side  by  side — and 
not  one  sermon,  embracing  the  truth  of  the  whole  of  it. 
The  text  need  exert  no  tyranny  over  the  free  thought  of 
him  who  has  comprehended  its  spirit,  and  seized  upon 
its  true  meaning  and  scope.  His  mind  is  inspired  and 
freed,  rather  than  hampered. 

Palmer,  the  German  writer  on  homiletics,  remarks    on 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.        293 

this  point,  that  a  true  text  cannot  be  compared  to  a  ves- 
sel, or  cask,  which  the  preacher  is  to  draw  from  until  he 
exhausts  it  ;  it  is  rather  a  spring  of  limitless  resource, 
because  it  is  a  thought  of  God.  If  this  were  not  so,  then 
but  one  sermon,  by  an  able  preacher,  could  be  preached 
upon  it.  It  would  thus  be  closed  to  another  preacher's 
attempting  to  use  it  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  same 
preacher  at  different  times  and  in  different  moods  may 
preach  entirely  different  discourses  from  the  same  text. 
He  looks  at  the  truth  from  various  sides  and  aspects. 
One  can,  in  fact,  always  find  something  new  in  the  same 

passage. 

3.  Texts  cannot  be  found  which  form  perfect  theses 
for  all  subjects  important  to  be  discussed  in  the  pulpit. 
This  is  really  the  main  stress  of  Vinefs  objection.  We 
answer  that  the  Bible  contains  the  seeds  of  all  religious 
truth,  or  else  it  is  not  a  sufficient  revelation.  It  may 
be  that  the  truth  is  sometimes  contained  in  a  concrete 
form  in  the  Scriptures  ;  but  this  is  better  than  an  abstract 
form  for  the  preacher,  because  it  is  vital  and  suggestive. 
It  may  stand  thus  as  a  generic  truth  that  can  be  analyzed 
and  applied  ;  or  as  a  specific  truth,  presenting  at  least 
one  aspect  of  the  subject,  which  has  a  root  in  the  gen- 
eral principle,  and  which  thus  legitimately  opens  to  the 
discussion  of  the  whole  theme. 

•  All  these  and  other  objections  will  vanish  when  we  re- 
gard the  minister  in  his  true  light,  as  an  interpreter  of 
the  word  of  God  to  men.  Whether  conformed  to  classical 
or  unclassical  rules,  the  minister's  responsibility  is  to 
make  known  to  men  the  will  of  God,  and  this  will  is  con- 
tained most  perfectly  in  the  Scriptures  ;  and  although 
he  may  preach  the  word  of  God  sometimes  without  tak. 
ing  a  text  from  the  Bible,  yet  so  long  as  he  is  a  minister 
of  the  word,  he   will   not   find   a   subject    proper  to  be 


294  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

preached  upon  for  which  he  cannot  find  a  legitimate  text 
in  the  Scriptures. 

Let  us,  on  the  other  hand,  look  at  the  true  design  and 

advantages  of  the  use  of  texts.     They  are  chiefly  fourfold. 

•^  I.   The  use  of  the  text  has  the  sanction  of 

Design  and    an   ancient   and   consecrated   custom.      It  is 

advantagesof  ^j^^^^,      jj^  which  the  Christian  Church  has 

the  use  of  r   >-  i 

texts         been  taught  the  word  of  God,  and  the  way 

in  which  the  truth  has  been  preached  to 
men  from  the  earliest  times,  and  it  has  therefore  accu- 
mulated power  and  solemnity.  What  possible  gain,  then, 
would  there  be  in  cutting  loose  from  this  ancient  custom 
of  founding  the  instruction  of  the  pulpit  upon  a  definite 
portion  of  the  word  of  God,  and  of  delivering  a  religious 
essay  or  address  from  an  independent  and  human  point 
of  view  ? 
^  2.  The  use  of  the  text  serves  to  interpret  and  explain 
the  Scriptures.  This  is  nearly  all  the  Bible  truth  that 
some  hearers  get  in  the  course  of  their  lives  ;  and  this  is 
the  way  that  they  learn  what  is  contained  in  the  Bible. 
A  clearer  understanding  of  the  Scriptures  is  thus  pro- 
moted ;  and  this  we  look  upon  as  the  great  advantage 
of  having  a  definite  passage  of  the  word  of  God  to 
preach  upon.  The  use  of  the  text  seems  to  remind  the 
preacher  of  his  chief  responsibility  as  a  minister  of  the 
word.  Every  text  he  chooses  says  to  him,  "  Preach  the 
preaching  that  I  bid  thee.  Preach  not  yourself,  but 
Christ  Jesus  the  Lord."  And  one  text  often  compre- 
hends a  whole  system  of  truth,  the  whole  of  Christianity 
— as  the  entire  arch  of  heaven  is  said  to  be  reflected  in  a 
drop  of  dew. 
^  3.  The  use  of  the  text  lends  a  divine  sanction  to  the 
sermon.  It  recognizes  the  authority  of  the  word  of  God 
as  the  basis  of  all  true  preaching,  and  the  truth    itself 


AiVALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         295 

has  a  converting  power.  "  The  law  of  the  Lord  is 
perfect,  converting  the  soul  ;  the  testimony  of  the 
Lord  is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple."  "Now  ye  are 
clean  through  the  word  I  have  spoken  unto  you." 
"  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth  ;  thy  word  is  truth." 
"  For  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  ;  for  it 
is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  be- 
lieveth  ;  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Greek."  "  So 
then  faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word 
of  God." 

The  use  of  the  text  as  the  foundation  of  the  sermon 
leads  us  to  see  and  feel  that  it  is  the  authoritative  message 
of  God,  not  the  doubtful  word  of  man,  which  is  set  forth. 
This  gives  the  preacher  a  more  than  personal  authority,  -r 
and  it  has  also  a  reactive  influence  upon  the  hearer, 
awakening  in  him  a  renewed  reverence  for  God  and  his 
word,  which  perhaps  had  become  dulled.  He  is  put  in 
mind  that  there  is  a  sure  word  of  prophecy  given  from 
heaven  to  men,  an  infallible  standard  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice by  which  at  last  he  shall  be  judged. 

4.  The  use  of  the  text  serves  to  introduce  and  limit 
the  subject  of  discourse.  It  obliges  the  preacher,  or 
should  do  so,  to  have  a  definite  subject  of  remark,  and 
it  affords,  too,  a  better  subject  than  the  preacher,  even 
if  left  to  himself,  would  probably  choose  for  the  spir- 
itual instruction  of  his  hearers.  And  with  the  whole 
Bible  to  select  from,  so  rich  and  copious  in  every  kind 
of  theme  for  instruction  and  spiritual  nourishment,  the 
preacher  need  never  be  at  a  loss  for  subjects  ;  the 
great  trouble  is  to  choose  among  the  multitude  of  sub- 
jects that  the  word  of  God  presents.  The  proper  use  of 
texts  is  thus  promotive  of  variety  in  preaching  ;  for 
where  the  mind  naturally  runs  into  one  track  of  thinking, 
the  very  responsibility  laid   upon   the  preacher  to  give 


296  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

something   like    a  comprehensive   view  of   the   word  of 
God,  compels  him  to  choose  a  great  variety  of  themes. 

The  use  of  a  text  gives  a  definite  point  of  view  from 
which  to  survey  the  vast  riches  of  divine  truth  ;  and  not 
only  a  point  of  view,  but,  as  one  has  said,  of  wonder  and 
admiration.  In  fine,  the  advantages  of  the  use  of  texts 
so  greatly  exceed  the  objections,  that  the  custom  doubt- 
less will  and  should  continue,  although  without  any  rigidly 
prescribed  rule  in  the  case.  Claus  Harms,  who  was  theo- 
retically opposed  to  the  use  of  texts,  fairly  tried  the  ex- 
periment of  doing  without  them  ;  and  his  expressed  con- 
fession is  that  he  would  preach  without  a  text  only  as  an 
exceptional  thing  ;  because  without  a  text  the  congrega- 
tion has  no  pledge  that  it  is  the  word  of  God  which  is 
preached.  He  also  said  truly  that  a  sermon  could  be  very 
^  unbiblical  which  had  a  biblical  text,  and  could  be  very 
biblical  without  a  text  ;  but  still,  if  one  preaches  from  a 
biblical  text  unbiblically,  then  his  text  itself  condemns 
him,  and  the  unscripturalness  of  his  sermon  is  made  ap- 
parent by  its  unfaithfulness  to  the  text. 

The  congregation,  too,  though  little  edified,  will  be 
less  injured,  because  they  can  readily  compare  the  text 
with  the  sermon,  and  see  how  far  the  preacher  has  erred. 

Preaching,  according  to  Palmer,  represents  the  free 
personal  element,  while  the  text  is  the  more  limited  or 
defined  sphere,  of  divine  truth  in  which  this  free  person- 
ality exercises  itself.  This  personality  should  never  be  so 
free  or  lawless  as  to  go  altogether  outside  of  the  truth, 
or  to  destroy  the  idea  of  a  divine  authority. 

"  For  we  preach  not  ourselves,  but  Christ  Jesus  the 

Lord,  and  ourselves  your  servants  for  Jesus'  sake." 

>        When    a   Christian    worshipper   goes  into  a  Christian 

church  on  Sunday  he  wishes  to  go  with  the  assurance  that 

he  is  not  to  hear  a  merely  human  word  preached,  but  a 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERxMON.         297 

word  of  the  Lord  authoritatively  addressed  to  his  soul, 
and  powerful  for  its  salvation  and  edification.  This 
strengthens  the  Church's  unity. 

Athanase  Coquerel  says  that  it  is  too  prevalent  a  cus- 
tom, and  also  a  very  grave  error,  to  attach  so  little  impor- 
tance as  some  do  to  the  text  in  a  sermon.  With  many 
of  our  modern  preachers  the  text  is  only  an  epigraph,  to 
be  mentioned  now  and  then,  to  be  brought  into  the  intro- 
duction and  the  conclusion,  to  be  cited,  perhaps,  but  not 
studied.  But  it  is  quite  useless  to  put  a  text  scrupulously 
at  the  head  of  a  sermon  in  order  to  prove  our  respect  for 
the  Scriptures,  if  we  do  not  also  regard  it  as  a  word  of 
revelation  upon  which  the  faith  of  Christians  and  of  the 
Christian  Church  is  founded,  if  the  text  is  not  regarded 
as  an  authority  in  our  instruction,  and  if  it  is  not  care- 
fully investigated  and  faithfully  interpreted. 

We  would  now  consider  the  main  principles  to  guide  in 
the  choice  of  texts.     The  selection  of  appropriate  texts 
is    a  matter  of  great   responsibility  for  the         „  . 
preacher  ;  and  he  cannot  do  this  perfectly  principles  to 
well   without    some    comprehensive    knowl-       guide  in 
edge  of  the  Scriptures,  not  merely  an  intel-      choice  of 
lectual  but  a  spiritual   knowledge  of  their 
truths  ;  nor   without   some   wise,    thoughtful,    and    con- 
scientious principle  of  adaptation  to  the  audience  and  the 
occasion. 

I.   The  text  should  be  the   word  or  a  word  of  God. 

"  If   any  man    speak,  let    him    speak    according    to  the 

oracles  of  God." 

All  preaching  should  have  a  biblical  truth,      "^^^  ^^^'^ 
<<  1      /-     1       T        ,,,  .      .        .      ,       ,  ,   ,        should  be  a 

a  word  of  the  Lord     m  it  ;  it  should  be         a    c  r-  a 

'  word  of  God. 

a  real  npaqxr^Kx,  springing  from  a   divine, 

not  human  root.     To  illustrate  this  principle  more  care- 

fully. 


298  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

{a.)  It  should  not  be  drawn  from  any  apocryphal  writ- 
ing. 

(d.)  It  should  not  be  of  doubtful  authenticity. 

How  far  texts  should  be  chosen  from  books  of  whose 
canonical  authorship,  or  even  authenticity,  there  is  more 
controversy  than  of  others — as  the  books  of  Daniel, 
Ecclesiastes,  Second  of  Peter,  Hebrews,  and  Reve- 
lation— all  we  can  say  is,  that  English  and  American  criti- 
cism has  not  yet  reached  the  sublimations  of  German 
criticism  ;  for  the  critical  faculty,  rather  than  the  faculty 
of  faith — the  faculty  of  believing  as  little  as  possible — has 
been  developed  in  Germany  during  the  last  half  century. 
The  passion  for  scientific  investigation  should  be  subor- 
dinated in  the  preacher  to  the  practical  faculty.  He 
should  look  for  the  word  of  God  from  every  source,  and 
in  all  its  multiform  modes  of  communication,  rather  than 
be  continually  striving  to  diminish  and  narrow  down  the 
field  of  inspired  truth.  Every  book  of  the  Bible,  at  least, 
stands  upon  its  own  evidences.  The  preacher  should 
certainly  examine  those  evidences  with  care  ;  but  no 
book  of  Scripture  has  been  left  unassailed  ;  even  the  Gos- 
pel of  John  has  been  the  theme  of  peculiar  hostility. 
Shall  we  discontinue  to  take  texts  from  John's  Gospel, 
because,  forsooth,  this  or  that  German  critic  has  doubted 
its  canonicity?  And  so  of  the  book  of  Hebrews,  and  of 
Revelation.  Christianity  does  not  fall  even  with  these 
great  books.  Paul  may  not,  indeed,  have  written  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  nor  John,  the  apostle,  the 
Apocalypse  ;  but  does  this  controversy  as  to  their  author- 
ship diminish  their  essential  value?  and  will  the  contro- 
versy be  settled  in  our  lives,  and  while  the  world  stands  ? 
Everything  that  has  been  assailed  is  not,  for  that  reason, 
less  true  or  divine.  The  proof  of  the  inspiration  of  these 
books,  both  outward  and  inward,  is  overwhelmingly  great, 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         299 

far  greater,  we  believe,  than  the  arguments  for  their  non- 
inspiration  ;  and  they  remain  in  the  canon,  and  continue 
to  nourish  the  faith  and  piety  of  the  Church,  as  they 
have  done  for  ages. 

The  truth  is,  the  received  text  of  Scripture,  as  far  as 
its  authenticity  is  concerned,  and  as  compared  with  con- 
temporaneous classical  writings,  is  singularly  free  from 
errors,  doubtful  passages,  and  lacunae.  It  has  been  won- 
derfully preserved.  Twenty  thousand  various  readings 
have  been  noticed  in  the  brief  six  comedies  of  Terence 
alone.  Let  us,  then,  continue  freely  to  use  these  precious 
portions  of  the  word  of  God,  though  there  may  be 
peculiar  difficulties  that  remain  to  be  cleared  up  respect- 
ing their  human  authorship  ;  or,  perhaps  we  should  say, 
instead  of  "peculiar,"  more  difficulties  than  attend  the 
other  books  of  the  Bible. 

There  are,  of  course,  a  few  individual  passages  about 
which  there  is  so  much  doubt,  and  one  or  two  that  are  so 
evidently  spurious,  that  it  would  not  be  right  to  preach 
upon  them,  certainly  not  without  giving  their  true  char- 
acter. 

{c.)  It  should  not  disregard  the  analogy  of  faith.  We 
mean  by  this  the  right  dividing  of  the  word  of  God,  in 
relation  both  to  the  essential  and  the  relative  impor- 
tance of  every  portion  of  Scripture.  Thus  one  should 
not  preach  Judaism  instead  of  Christianity,  or  dwell 
upon  the  Old  Testament  with  such  continuous  inten- 
sity as  to  draw  his  inspiration  from  the  spirit  of  the 
Old,  rather  than  of  the  New,  whose  ministers  we  are. 
When  we  preach  from  the  Old  Testament,  we  should 
surely  seek  to  find  the  New  Testament  in  it — the  testi- 
mony of  Christ,  the  analogy  of  faith.  Some  one  quaintly 
says  that  "  He  who  understands  the  art  of  distinguishing 
between  Moses  and  Christ  may  indeed   be  called  a  doc- 


300  HOMJLETICS   PROPER. 

tor."  The  Old  Testament  is  the  New  Testament  in  its 
germ,  and  therefore  cannot  be  neglected  by  the  preachers 
of  Christ  ;  but  we  should  choose  our  texts,  and  treat 
them  in  such  a  way  as  that  they  may  all  bear  upon  the 
"  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  ;"  and  we  think,  indeed,  that  a 
minister  of  the  New  Testament  should  preach  most  of 
the  time  from  the  New  Testament,  as  being  the  fuller 
revelation,  the  perfect  truth  ;  since  the  Old  Testament  is 
more  especially  the  law,  and  therefore  preparative,  but 
the  New  is  more  truly  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,  of 
his  perfect  manifestation  in  his  Son  ;  and  even  in  the 
New  Testament  itself  there  are  some  portions  more  par- 
ticularly to  be  chosen  and  dwelt  upon,  as  containing  more 
of  the  truth  and  the  riches  of  Christ. 

(<af.)  It  should  not  be  an  incorrect  translation.  The  text 
should  be  taken  in  its  real,  not  its  paraphrased  and  often 
perverted  sense. 

The  correct  rendering  of  a  text  as  well  as  the  correct 
reading  of  a  text  should  certainly  always  be  given,  even 
though  our  English  translation  of  the  passage  be  not 
entirely  literal  ;  for  a  preacher  should  establish  his  people 
.  on  the  reck  lof  the  original  text,  and  educate  them  to  this 
idea. 

This  counsel  in  regard  to  establishing  a  people  on  the 
original  Greek  or  Hebrew  text  puts  an  end  to  the  war  of 
versions,  old  and  new.  The  preacher  should  employ  all 
lights,  aids,  commentaries,  translations,  versions  (and 
certainly  the  new  revised  version  of  1881  is  of  signal 
assistance  here),  but  above  all  his  own  most  earnest  in- 
vestigation and  thought,  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  correct 
meaning  of  the  text. 

The  exact  rendering  of  a  passage  gives  it  often  un- 
expected beauty  and  force  ;  even  the  right  punctuation 
of  a  text  adds  vastly  to  its  homiletical  value. 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.        ZO\ 

How  immeasurably   different   is  the   Roman   Catholic 
reading,  "  I  say  unto  thee  this  day,  Thou  shalt  be  with 
me  in  Paradise,"  from  the  true  rendering,  "  I   say  unto 
thee,    To-day    shalt    thou    be    with    me  in    Paradise." 
In  2    Pet.    3:12,  GTtEvdovra'i  might   very   well  be  ren- 
dered in  the  active  and  more  stimulating  sense  of   "  has- 
tening  the   day  of   God."      In   Gal.    3  :  24,  TraiSaYoayo^ 
refers  to  the  slave  or  tutor  who  leads  the  child  to   the 
house  of  the  schoolmaster  ;  so  the   law  leads  us  to  our 
teacher,  Christ,  that  we   may  be  taught  and  justified  by 
faith.      I    Cor.  4  :  4,  OvSlv  ijxavxoj  Gvvoida,   instead    of 
meaning,  "  I  know  nothing  by  myself,"  is  really,  "  I  am 
not  conscious  to  myself  of  any  guilt,"  and  yet  I  am  not 
thereby  justified  ;  showing  that  even  the  unconsciousness 
of  his  sins  cannot  justify  the  sinner — an  important  homi- 
letical  and  practical  sense.     It  might  indeed  be  said  of 
this  passage  that  the  "  by"  may  have  had  the  old  mean- 
ing of  "against,"  and  yet,  as   the  translation    stands,  it 
leads  to  a  wrong  sense.     In    a  passage  which  we  have 
before    referred    to — viz.,  John    7  :   17 — the    words    of 
our  Lord,  "  If   any  man  will   do  his  will  he  shall  know 
of    the    doctrine,"    might    be    more   happily    rendered, 
"  If  any  man    is  willing   to   do   his   will,"    or    "  desires 
to    do    his    will,"    thus  emphasizing     the    desire,    and 
bringing  out   more  clearly  the  profound  truth  that  our 
real  knowledge     of    divine     things   depends     upon    the 
obedient   and   right    disposition    of   the  heart.     It    is,  in 
fact,  almost  parallel  with  the  beautiful  passage,  "  He  that 
loveth  is  born   of  God  and  knoweth  God."     Numerous 
other  passages  might  be  mentioned  which  are   familiar  ; 
yet  how  pertinaciously  some  absolutely  faulty  translations 
have  been  preached  upon  !  not,  perhaps,  to  the  inculca- 
tion of  error,  but  certainly  without  a  nice  regard  to  exact 
truth.     The  text  in  Acts  26  :  28,  "  Almost  thou  persuad- 


302  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

est  me  to  be  a  Christian,"  has  been  used  to  serve  as  the 
basis  of  discourse  on  "  being  almost  a  Christian  ;" 
whereas  it  would  seem  to  have  been  a  scornful  jest  of 
Agrippa's,  to  the  effect  that  Paul  should  be  foolish  enough 
to  expect  that  in  so  short  a  time,  so  lightly,  or  by  so  lit- 
tle effort,  Agrippa  could  be  made  a  Christian. 

The  beautiful  passage  in  i  Cor.  13  :  12,  "  For  now  we 
see  through  a  glass  darkly,"  would  be  stronger  still  if 
rendered  literally,  "  For  now  we  see  in  a  mirror  obscurely 
(enigmatically). "  The  idea  is  not  that  of  looking  through 
a  glass  ;  but  it  is  the  imperfect  reflection  of  an  object  in 
a  steel  mirror  of  the  apostle's  time,  compared  with  the 
actual  sight  of  the  object  itself.  This  is  likened  to  the 
reflection  of  divine  truth  in  these  lower  works  of  God,  as 
compared  with  the  future  clear  beholding  of  that  truth  in 
God  himself.  The  translation  of  "my  temptation,"  in 
Gal.  4  :  14,  exposes  the  passage  to  the  false  and  pernicious 
idea  sometimes  brought  out  in  preaching  upon  it,  that 
the  apostle  was  in  the  power  or  continual  temptation  of 
some  sinful  habit — a  totally  incorrect  meaning,  for  the 
"  temptation"  here  is,  in  all  probability,  the  trial  occa- 
sioned by  a  physical  disease  or  weakness. 

Biblical  hermeneutics  is  the  preacher's  life-long  study. 
He  should  have  the  principles  of  interpretation  clearly 
established  in  his  mind,  so  that  they  may  be  constantly 
applied  in  practice  ;  for  his  material  for  preaching  lies  in 
the  Bible.  The  word  of  God  is  his  field.  Mere  fragment- 
ar}^  studies  of  the  Scriptures,  therefore,  for  the  purpose 
of  selecting  and  elucidating  individual  texts  for  the 
material  of  preaching,  are  not  enough  ;  his  noble  and 
difBcult  ofiflce  is  to  be  an  interpreter  of  the  whole 
word  of  God  to  men.  He  should  explore  it  thor- 
oughly, its  heights  and  depths,  leaving  no  unknown 
land.     He  should  make  a  systematic  study  of  the  Bible 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SEIiMON.         303 

following  its  books  connectedly,  according  to  the  law 
of  harmonious  development,  and  not  being  content 
with  the  investigation  of  isolated  texts  upon  particu- 
lar themes.  Thus  Whately  says,  "  Beware  of  classing 
texts  together  in  regard  to  their  subjects  alone,  without 
any  regard  to  the  periods  in  which  successive  steps  were 
made  in  the  Christian  revelation — jumbling  confusedly 
Evangelists,  Acts,  Epistles.  This,  among  other  things, 
makes  Socinians,  who  are  right  up  to  a  certain  point,  but 
stop  short  in  the  middle  of  the  gradual  revelation  ;  they 
have  the  blossom  without  the  fruit.  Jesus  Christ  was 
first  made  known  as  a  man  sent  from  God,  whom  God 
anointed  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  power  ;  then  as 
the  promised  Christ  ;  then  as  He  in  whom  '  dwelt  all  the 
fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,'  in  whom  '  God  was  mani- 
fest in  the  flesh,'  in  whom  '  God  was  manifesting  himself 
unto  the  world.'  "  ' 

If  the  preacher  studies  the  Bible  as  a  whole,  then, 
when  he  comes  to  the  interpretation  of  a  single  text,  or 
passage  of  Scripture,  he  sees  its  proper  relations,  limita- 
tions, scope,  and  bearing  ;  and  the  philological  exegesis 
of  an  individual  text,  though  the  first  is  therefore  some- 
times the  least  part  of  the  matter.  Its  real,  spiritual  in- 
terpretation as  an  harmonious  portion  of  God's  word  is 
of  higher  import  ;  for  the  Spirit,  who  inspires  the  whole, 
who  gives  unity  to  the  whole,  must  breathe  new  life  into 
the  word,  and  bring  back  its  original  power,  its  divine 
meaning.  It  was  said  of  Edward  Irving,  who,  with  all 
his  errors,  had  some  grand  traits  as  a  preacher,  that  "  the 
Bible  was  to  him,  not  the  foundation  from  which  his 
theology  was  to  be  substantiated  or  proved,  but  a 
divine  word,  instinct  with    meaning  and  life,   never   to 


'  E.  Jane  Whately 's  "  Life  of  Archbishop  Whately  '   v.  i.  p.  207. 


304  IW MILE  TICS   PROPER. 

be  exhausted,  and  from  which  h'ght  and  guidance — 
not  vague,  but  particular — could  be  brought  for  every 
need."  '  These  remarks  lead  us  to  add,  as  coming  under 
this  general  head,  another  principle  in  the  choice  of  a 
text  : 

{e.)  It  should  be  suggested  by  the  regular  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  rather  than  by  chance  or  accident.  This  we 
have  before  remarked  upon.  The  text  should  thus 
rather  choose  than  be  chosen;  it  should  spring  out  of 
the  habitual  meditation  of  the  word  of  God.  There 
should  be  a  certain  divine  order  in  the  selection  of 
texts,  and  the  mind  should,  in  some  true  sense,  be 
guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  selection  of  proper 
texts.  The  text  should  be  the  text  to  be  preached 
upon,  because  the  Spirit  has  brought  the  mind  of  the 
preacher  to  it — has  led  his  thoughts,  studies,  and  desires 
up  to  the  open  door  of  the  house  of  God,  where  food 
may  be  received  for  the  nourishment  of  the  souls  of 
pastor  and  people. 

{/.)  It  should  not  be  a  merely  human  utterance,  used 
as  if  it  were  the  word  of  God.  "  All  that  lies  between 
the  covers  of  the  Bible  is  not  divine."  It  is  not  alia 
word  or  a  speech  of  God  himself,  since  a  large  portion 
of  the  Bible  is  the  record  of  human  sayings  and  do- 
ings. The  record  may  indeed  be  divinely  guided  and 
preserved,  while  the  text  itself  is  but  the  expression 
of  human  imperfection  and  sin.  The  particular  pas- 
sage may  be  used  as  a  text  in  its  true  connections, 
as  an  important  fact  of  human  history,  as  something 
essentially  related  to  God's  government  and  the  re- 
demption of  men,  but  not  as  a  direct  expression  of  the 
mind  of  God.   There  are  texts  spoken  by  angels,  men,  and 


'  Mrs.  Olipliant's  "  Life  of  Edward  Irving." 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SEIiMON.         305 

devils,  by  ignorant  men,  by  wicked  men  and  opposers, 
by  the  prince  of  evil  himself.  These  may  be  usefully 
employed  to  illustrate  the  workings  of  the  wicked 
heart,  and  also  as  forcible  indirect  arguments  ;  thus  if 
even  demoniacs,  for  example,  acknowledge  the  truth 
and  divine  nature  of  Jesus,  how  much  more  should 
we  ! 

We  surely  should  never  employ  a  text  expressing  a 
wrong  sentiment,  as  if  it  were  authoritative,  simply  be- 
cause it  stands  in  the  Bible.  The  book  of  Ecclesiastes 
is,  on  this  account,  peculiarly  difificult  to  be  handled  ; 
and  a  right  or  wrong  theory  of  this  book  makes  all  im- 
aginable difference  in  the  authority  of  many  of  its  pas- 
sages— whether  they  are  considered  to  be  truly  inspired 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  or  are  the  utterances  of  the  disap- 
pointed and  corrupt  human  heart  of  Solomon,  or  of  some 
writer  of  the  splendid  but  morally  fallen  Solomonic 
epoch.  Many  a  false  doctrinal  argument,  or  perverse 
opinion,  has  been  bolstered  up  by  texts  which,  if  studied 
in  all  their  bearings,  would  lead  to  precisely  opposite  con- 
clusions. There  are,  it  is  true,  texts  which  are  the  spon- 
taneous words  of  men,  and  which  are,  nevertheless, 
inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit  ;  they  flow  from  the  teach- 
ings of  God's  law  and  Spirit.  Such  is  the  passage  in  Gen. 
32  :  10,  where  Jacob  says,  "  I  am  not  worthy  of  the  least 
of  all  the  mercies,  and  of  all  the  truth,  which  thou  hast 
showed  unto  thy  servant."  Most  of  the  words  of  Job 
and  of  Daniel  (though  not  all)  are  of  the  same  character  ; 
they  are  "  the  reflection  of  the  word  and  will  of  God  in 
the  spirit  of  man."  These,  of  course,  constitute  legiti- 
mate texts,  as  do  also  those  words  where  the  Spirit  of 
God  forces  the  truth,  as  it  were,  from  irreligious  or 
wicked  men,  as  in  the  case  of  Balaam,  and  of  Pilate,  and 
of  the  Roman  centurion  at  the  sepulchre  ;  and  the  utter- 


3°^  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

ances  of  Job's  friends,  although  condemned  by  God  in 
the  gross,  are,  in  the  detail,  good. 

2.   The  text  should  be  fitted  for  edification. 

It  should  be  capable  both  of  being  built  upon  and  also 

of  building  up  in  the  truth.     To  do  this  it 

The  text  should  have  in  it  the  elements  of  substance 
should  J  .  ,  .   ,  .  , 

v    c^^  J  r  ^"Q  increase — a  text  which  contams  a  truth 
be  fitted  for 

edification,    capable  of  application  to  the  growing  needs 
of  practical  life,  a  text,  in  a  word,  fitted  for 
advancement    in  the  knowledge  of  God   and  righteous- 
ness. 

In  its  adaptation  to  the  wants  of  the  audience,  to  the 
time,  and  to  the  occasion,  it  should  be  suited  to  the  high 
purposes  of  sacred  instruction. 

(a.')  It  should  be  plain.  If  easily  understood,  and 
naturally  suggestive  of  the  subject,  this  helps  the  com 
mon  mind  to  comprehend  and  remember  it  ;  and  it  also 
removes  the  temptation  from  the  preacher  to  be  pe- 
dantic ;  he  is  led  by  it  to  a  solid  and  earnest  style  of 
discourse.  But  there  are  marked  exceptions  to  this  choice 
of  plain  texts.  A  more  difficult  text  may  sometimes  be 
very  advantageous.  Its  treatment  assists  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  Bible  to  the  common  mind  ;  and  it 
leads  to  an  expository  style  of  discourse.  The  very  an- 
nouncement of  such  a  text  in  itself  awakens  attention  ; 
for  men  like  to  see  a  hard  knot  untied.  It  is  a  great 
^  mental  refreshment  and  excitement  to  the  pious  mind 
to  obtain  a  new  idea  from  God's  word  ;  and  all  men 
love  to  have  mysteries  unfolded.  But  very  dark  and 
difficult  passages,  such,  for  example,  as  the  Saviour's 
words  in  Mark  9  :  49,  or  Paul's  meaning  in  Rom.  7  :  9-25  ; 
or  Christ's  preaching  to  the  spirits  in  prison,  i  Pet. 
3  :  19,  20  ;  or  the  passage  in  2  Pet.  i  :  20,  21  ;  or  the 
allegory  of  the  "  bond  woman"  and  the  "  free  woman" 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         307 

in  Gal.  4  :  21-31  ;  such  recondite  portions  of  Holy  Writ 
should  not  be  too  frequently  taken,  nor  as  a  general 
rule  ;  otherwise  a  curious,  rather  than  trustful  spirit  will 
be  nourished  in  the  congregation. 

And  as  another  caution,  it  is  not  best  to  take  a  dififi- 
cult  passage  unless  we  are  sure  we  can  go  some  way 
toward  clearing  up  its  difficulties,  instead  of  increasing 
them  ;  thus  we  should  not  take  such  a  text  when  pressed 
for  time,  or  when  we  wish  to  talk  in  a  direct,  practical 
manner.  In  a  word,  he  who  is  in  earnest  to  convert  the 
souls  of  his  people  will  be  most  apt  to  take  for  texts 
those  plain,  important  passages  which  contain  saving 
truth  expressed  in  the  most  simple  and  solid  form  ;  com- 
prehending in  clear  propositions  the  great  truths  of  the 
gospel — the  incarnation,  the  atonement,  faith,  love,  re- 
pentance, the  Christian  life,  the  judgment,  and  eternal 
life. 

{b.')  It  should  be  dignified,  as  opposed  to  what  is  odd. 
In  so  vast  and  various  a  book  as  the  Bible — a  world  in 
itself — there  are  passages  treating  simply  and  freely  of 
human  life,  which  are  to  be  taken  in  their  right  histori- 
cal connections,  and  with  proper  mental  preparation  ;  but 
which,  suddenly  announced  from  so  solemn  a  place  as 
the  pulpit,  would  have  a  startling  effect,  tending  to  pro- 
duce irreverence.  The  dignity  of  the  text  may  be  vio- 
lated, (i)  By  a  text  which  expresses  no  moral  or  relig- 
ious idea  ;  as  if  one  should  take  the  passage  concerning 
the  apostle  Paul,  "  Having  shorn  his  head  in  Cenchrea  ;" 
or  the  words  of  the  Saviour,  "  Loose  the  colt,  and  bring 
him  here."  (2)  By  a  text  which  suggests  ludicrous 
associations.  These  words  have  been  actually  preached 
upon.  Cant.  5:3;  "I  have  put  off  my  coat  ;  how  shall  I 
put  it  on  ?"  "  Ephraim  is  a  cake  unturned."  (3)  By  a  text 
not  adapted  to  modern  ideas  of  modesty.     There  may  be 


3o8  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

too  great  a  fear  on  the  part  of  the  preacher  of  offending 
a  sickly  fastidiousness,  which  by  and  by  may  grow  so 
extravagant  that  it  cannot  even  bear  the  truth  that  our 
Lord  was  conceived  and  born  of  a  woman  ;  or  that  could 
not  repeat  many  of  his  ov/n  words  drawn  from  common 
things.  To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure  ;  but,  notwith- 
standing this,  it  is  still  true  that  the  ideas  of  different 
ages  differ,  and  a  due  regard  should  be  had  to  that 
fact.  The  soberness  of  the  text  should  be  observed,  in 
order,  if  nothing  else,  to  maintain  respect  and  reverence 
for  the  word  of  God.  (4)  By  a  merely  ingenious  and 
wittily-applied  text.  An  old  divine  of  the  time  of 
James  I.  of  England  and  VI.  of  Scotland,  preached  be- 
fore that  unstable  monarch  upon  the  words  in  James 
1:6 — "Waver  not."  This  text  was  surely  apt  enough 
and  bold  enough  to  be  admissible  ;  and  so,  perhaps,  was 
the  text  which  was  used  on  the  following  occasion  : 
William  Pitt,  when  made  Premier  of  England  at  the  age 
of  twenty-four,  was  very  slim  and  youthful  in  appearance. 
He  was  publicly  feted  at  Cambridge  University,  his  own 
university,  and  was  exceedingly  pressed  upon  by  the 
crowds  of  applicants  for  ofifice.  In  the  religious  services 
which  followed,  the  preacher  took  for  his  text  John 
6:9,  "  There  is  a  lad  here  which  hath  five  barley 
loaves  and  two  small  fishes  ;  but  what  are  they  among  so 
many  ?" 

But  the  following  use  of  a  passage  in  Gen.  48  :  13,  14 
was  much  too  ingenious.  Jacob,  in  his  blessing  of 
Manasseh,  laid  his  right  hand  upon  him  crossed  over  his 
left  ;  and  the  theme  drawn  from  this  was,  "  We  derive 
our  blessings  under  the  cross."  Sometimes,  however, 
there  is  a  piquancy  and  pertinency  in  the  text  which  is 
simply  felicitous,  and  yet  not  undignified  ;  thus  Edward 
Irving's  first   sermon    in    London   was    upon    the    text, 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         309 
c 
"  Therefore  came  I  unto  you  without  gainsaying,  as  soon 

as  I  was  sent  for.  I  ask  you,  therefore,  for  what  intent 
you  have  sent  for  me." 

{c.)  It  should  be  fresh.  That  is  to  say,  as  a  general 
rule,  it  is  well  not  to  take  too  familiar  a  text  ;  for 
a  fresh  text  creates  interest  in  the  writer's  own  mind, 
and  in  the  minds  of  his  hearers  ;  it  is  turning  over  a 
fresh  leaf  in  the  Bible  ;  it  promotes  a  broader  knowl- 
edge of  the  Scriptures  ;  it  is  bringing  out  of  the 
divine  treasures  "  things  new  and  old."  Some  preach- 
ers seem  to  think  that  they  must  in  no  case  depart 
from  the  use  of  immemorial  texts  upon  immemorial  sub- 
jects ;  whereas  other  texts,  a  little  out  of  the  common, 
would  throw  new  light  upon  the  subject. 

New  circumstances  and  needs  may  require  new  texts 
in  which  we  should  study  peculiar  fitness  of  application, 
thus  giving  point  to  our  instructions.  We  should  study 
variety. 

This,  however,  should  not  deter  one  from  employing 
those  old  and  well-worn  texts  which  have  the  merit  of 
greater  appropriateness,  and  which  seem  to  be  peculiarly 
consecrated  to  particular  themes  ;  such,  for  example,  as 
some  of  the  words  of  Christ,  which  have  a  peculiar  weight 
and  sanction  as  coming  directly  from  his  mouth.  "  Ye 
must  be  born  again"  is  and  will  ever  be  the  great  standard 
text  upon  the  subject  of  regeneration  ;  and  yet  there  are 
many  other  fruitful  texts  upon  this  fundamental  theme. 
There  are,  indeed,  a  few  standard  texts  which  a  min- 
ister should  most  certainly  preach  upon,  and  repeat- 
edly preach  upon  ;  for,  though  so  familiar,  when  treated 
with  earnestness  they  never  fail  of  having  a  powerful 
effect  ;  and,  like  the  green  earth,  or  the  sun,  or  the  stars, 
that  we  see  every  day,  because  they  are  so  great,  so  good, 
so  deep,  so  divine,  they  are  ever  fresh. 


-h 


3^0  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

Searching  out  novel  texts  is  not  what  is  meant  by  em- 
ploying fresh  texts  ;  for  fresh  texts  are  those  which,  as 
soon  as  uttered,  suggest  original  reading  and  study  of 
the  Bible,  as  if  the  preacher  had  gone  further  and  deeper 
into  the  mysteries  of  the  word,  and  found  new  and  rare 
words  of  divine  truth. 

Freshness  in  preaching  consists  not  only  in  the  text 
and  subject,  but  in  the  way  the  preacher  handles  his 
text  ;  there  should  be  freshness  in  his  own  thought  or  in 
his  own  appreciation  of  the  eternal  newness  of  the  word. 

The  stereotyped  use  of  texts  in  preaching — setting 
aside  those  few  familiar  texts  that  stand  out  like  moun- 
tains that  cannot  be  hid — may  be  explained  by  the 
fact,  that  great  preachers  who  have  gone  before  have 
made  certain  texts  familiar  and  popular  by  preaching 
great  sermons  upon  them,  by  dwelling  upon  these  pas- 
sages as  their  favorites,  as  their  theological  proof-texts  ; 
and  less  original  minds  of  their  own  denominations  and 
theological  opinions  have  concluded  that  there  were  no 
texts  in  the  Bible  other  than  these.  How  different  was  a 
mind  like  that  of  Leighton,  that  found  food  in  every  part 
of  the  word  of  God  ! 

{d.)  It  should,  as  a  general  rule,  be  didactic.  That  is, 
it  should  have  in  it  the  quality  of  instruction  ;  it  should 
be  a  text  capable  of  analysis,  of  expansion,  of  thoughtful 
treatment,  in  opposition  to  a  highly  imaginative,  poetical, 
or  impassioned  text. 

Such  an  impassioned  text'  might  be  sometimes  effec- 
tive ;  but  it  demands  a  peculiar  state  of  feeling  in 
preacher  and  audience,  and  requires  an  equally  fervid 
introduction  and  continuously  impassioned  treatment. 
It  also  excites  undue  expectation  in  the  audience,  and 
strings  up  a  sermon  to  too  high  a  pitch.  A  text,  there- 
fore, which  contains  truth  in  a  suggestive  form,  is  better 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         3" 

than  one  which  gives  full  expression  to  the  feeling  of  the 
truth  suggested  ;  for  there  is  something  undeveloped  in 
the  first,  something  that  requires  an  act  of  reflection  to 
awaken  feeling,  and  it  does  not  start  from  too  high  a 
point,  thus  aiding  in  the  gradual  development  of  the  ser- 
mon. It  is  better  to  have  feeling  flow  naturally  from  the 
actual  treatment  of  a  text,  than  to  require  it  to  flow  at 
once  on  the  mere  pronouncing  of  the  text.  The  preacher 
should  not,  therefore,  acquire  the  habit  of  depending 
upon  sensational,  or  what  may  be  called  ambitious  texts. 
Yet,  in  a  time  when  spiritual  indifference  broods  like  a 
death-pall  over  his  congregation,  it  might  be  impressive 
for  a  minister  to  pour  out  his  feelings  in  a  vehement, 
ejaculatory  text,  which  was  uttered  originally  at  a  similar 
time  of  religious  apathy  and  death  :  "  Thine  altars,  O 
Lord  of  hosts,  my  King  and  my  God  I" 

Sometimes,  also,  a  brilliant  text  gives  power  and  glory 
to  a  sermon,  when  it  is  carried  out,  as  are  some  of  Mel- 
ville's sermons,  in  the  same  striking  and  exalted  strain. 
Such  a  text  at  once  raises  the  audience  into  a  higher 
sphere,  and  bears  their  thoughts  beyond  this  world  ; 
but  it  requires  deep  feeling,  powerful  imagination,  and 
bold  thought  inspired  by  bold  faith,  to  treat  such  texts 
successfully. 

3.    It  should  have   true  relations  to  the     The  text 
sermon.      The    text    should   be  vitally   one   should  have 

1     .i  -i.!     i.t         1-  ^1^/1     true  relations 

and   the  same  with  the  discourse  that  fol- 

to  the 
lows,  and  should  have  its  legitimate  influ-       sermon. 

ence  upon  the  sermon. 

(rt.)  It  should  have  pertinency.  This  means  that  there 
should  be  an  organic  and  not  merely  mechanical  connec- 
tion between  the  text  and  the  sermon.  Pertinence  im- 
plies, 

(i.)  An  appropriateness  in  the  choice  of  the  text  to  the 


312  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

outward  object  of  the  sermon.  Texts  should  be  chosen 
in  reference  to  real  and  present  wants,  to  events,  circum- 
stances, and  exigencies  springing  up  in  the  circle  of  a 
preacher's  own  pastoral  work,  and  for  which  he  should 
seek  divine  guidance  in  order  to  instruct,  aid,  and  comfort 
others.  That  particular  man  or  that  particular  com- 
munity in  affliction  needs  a  special  word  of  God  which  is 
addressed  to  actually  existing  needs  and  is  fitted  to  reach 
and  console  them.  Then  there  are  texts  which  specially 
and  exactly  apply  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  Baptism,  to 
Ordination,  to  Death,  to  the  Seasons,  to  religious  Re- 
vival, to  War  and  Peace,  to  Thanksgiving  and  Fasting. 
These  should  be  carefully  sought  out  and  employed. 
There  is  beauty  in  appropriateness,  even  if  it  be  not  the 
highest  quality  of  art. 

(2.)  The  quality  of  pertinency  implies  an  appropriate- 
ness in  the  choice  of  the  text  to  the  inner  subject  of  the 
sermon.     This  refers  to  its  real  meaning. 

There  should  be  no  painful  divorce  of  the  text  from 
the  subject.  The  rule  of  pertinency  in  this  regard  may 
be  violated,  first,  when  the  text  does  not  contain  the  true 
subject  of  the  sermon.  Thus  the  text  in  fact  may  refer 
to  an  entirely  different  truth  or  class  of  truths  from  that 
treated  of  in  the  sermon  ;  as  if,  for  a  broad  case,  one  should 
take  I  Cor.  11  :  34  to  preach  upon  "Home  and  home 
piety  ;"  or  if  one  were  preaching  upon  the  ordination  of 
a  minister  he  should  select  Acts  20  :  36-38,  referring  to  a 
pastor's  leave-taking  of  his  people  ;  or,  to  narrow  it  down 
still  closer,  if  the  preacher  should  take  a  text  which,  though 
it  may  refer  to  the  general  subject  treated  of,  yet  does 
not  set  forth  the  particular  subject  treated  of  ;  as  if  one 
should  take  a  text  which  treats  definitely  of  the  example 
of  some  Christian  grace,  and  should  use  it  as  a  theme  for 
discussing  the  foundations  of  that  virtue. 


AXALYSIS  AND   COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         313 

It  is  the  habit  of  some  preachers  to  touch  the  text  so 
lightly,  to  avoid  it  so  scrupulously,  to  display  one's  inde- 
pendence in  talking  of  everything  but  the  text,  and  to 
look  upon  this  fastidious  avoidance  of  the  text  as  a  mat- 
ter of  good  taste  (as,  indeed,  it  is  in  essay-writing,  where 
one  strives  to  convey  an  idea  indirectly,  to  insinuate  as  it 
were,  and  where  philosophy,  instead  of  the  gospel,  is 
often  preached),  that  Cowper's  words  are  brought  to 
mind  : 

"  How  oft,  when  Paul  has  served  us  with  a  text, 
Has  Epictetus,  Plato,  Tully  preached  !" 

Yet,  as  a  modification  to  what  has  been  said  in  regard  to 
the  pertinency  of  the  text  in  its  relation  to  the  subject, 
some  modification  must  be  made,  owing  to  the  great  rich- 
ness of  the  divine  word  ;  for  it  belongs  to  the  breadth 
and  depth  of  inspiration  that  we  can  often  use  a  text  in 
various  applications. 

Thus  texts  which  originally  have  a  general  application 
may  be  made  to  fit  specific  cases  ;  and  texts  which,  on 
the  other  hand,  have  originally  a  definite  historical  or 
local  reference,  may  be  used  for  more  general  instruc- 
tion. 

Take  such  a  text  as  the  words  of  Christ  contained  in 
Matt,  22  :  21,  "  Render  therefore  unto  Caesar  the  things 
that  are  Caesar's  ;  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's  ;" 
how  multiform  are  the  applications  of  such  a  passage, 
to  baptism,  to  funeral  occasions,  to  thanksgiving  and 
political  sermons,  to  charitable  sermons,  to  young  con- 
verts, and  to  many  other  subjects  ! 

This  rule  may  be  violated,  secondly,  when  the  text  has 
not  the  spirit  of  the  sermon.  Thus  the  sermon  may  be 
imaginative  and  poetical  when  the  text  is  didactic  ;  or  it 
may  be  logical  and  argumentative  when  the  text  is  cmo- 


314  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

tional  and  pathetic  ;  whereas  the  text  should  give  the 
key-note  to  the  sermon. 

(^.)  It  should  have  directness.  By  this  is  meant  that 
the  text  should  be  one  that  can  be  directly  and  honestly 
used  for  the  purposes  of  the  sermon  and  not  be  ingeniously 
wrested  to  apply  to  something  else  which  the  preacher 
desires  to  discuss,  or  to  present  to  his  audience.  A  direct 
treatment  and  application  of  texts  evidently  secure  more 
of  divine  authority,  and  tend  more  certainly  to  edifi- 
cation. 

The  question  arises  here,  May  we  employ  an  accom- 
modated text  ?  An  accommodated  text,  being  chosen, 
not  on  the  principle  of  absolute  identity,  but 

only   of   similarity,    though    allowable    and 
accommodated  .  1111 

sometimes  even  necessary,  should  be  spar- 
ingly used,  and  never  from  mere  fanciful 
resemblance,  but  from  a  substantial  similarity  of  ideas 
or  truths.  "  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel  that  they 
go  forward,"  may  be  justly  applied  to  Christian  sanctifi- 
cation  amid  difficulties,  or  to  Christian  activity  in  dis- 
couraging circumstances. 

I  Chron.  21  124,  "And  King  David  said  to  Oman, 
Nay  ;  but  I  will  verily  buy  it  for  the  full  price  ;  for  I  will 
not  take  that  which  is  thine  for  the  Lord,  nor  offer  burnt 
offerings  without  cost."  Here  the  great  principle  of 
self-sacrifice,  of  doing  something  for  the  Lord  which 
really  costs  effort,  self-denial,  the  giving  up  of  property, 
or  what  is  cherished,  for  his  sake,  is  taught  ;  and  it  may 
have  a  genuine  application  in  many  other  ways,  and  at 
the  present  day. 

Such  an  accommodated  text,  when  it  suggests  a  natural 
and  sensible  resemblance  of  ideas,  without  anything 
strained  or  frivolous,  and  is  itself  at  the  same  time 
founded    upon    some   deep   principle    of    truth,    applied 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         3' 5 

only  to  different  circumstances,  is  perfectly  justifiable. 
'*  Christ  stilling  the  storm"  is  well  applied  to  his  peace- 
giving  power  in  spiritual  things,  in  stilling  the  tempest  of 
the  wicked  and  passionate  heart  ;  for  outer  things  may 
typify  inward  feelings. 

"Simon  bearing  the  cross"  is  a  proper  type  of  the 
Christian  bearing  the  cross  after  Christ  ;  in  fact,  the 
principle  of  humble  obedience  is  the  same  in  both  ac- 
tions. 

The  use  of  this  principle  of  symbolical  interpretation  by 
the  mediaeval  preachers  has  already  been  noticed.  They 
were  sometimes  quite  felicitous  in  the  employment  of 
the  accommodated  text,  although  they  were  more  often 
given  to  extravagant  allegorizing.  Thus  Neale  says, 
"  Consider  the  admirable  wisdom  with  which  the  follow- 
ing texts  are  selected,  under  the  head  that  we  ought  to 
be  solicitous  to  help  forward  each  other's  salvation  : 
Genesis  4:9,'  Where  is  Abel  thy  brother  ?  '  ;  Ex.  26  :  3, 
'  The  fine  curtains  shall  be  coupled  together,  one  to 
another  •/  Is.  2:3,'  Come  ye  and  let  us  go  up  to  the 
house  of  the  Lord  ;'  Jer.  16  :  16,  '  Behold  I  will  send 
for  many  fishers,  saith  the  Lord,  and  they  shall  fish 
them;'  John  i  :45,  'Philip  findeth  Nathaniel;"  John 
4  :  28,  '  The  woman  then  left  her  waterpot,  and  went  her 
way  into  the  city  ;'  Rev.  22  :  17,  '  And  let  him  that 
heareth  say.  Come.'  "  ' 

There  is  a  curious  passage  in  Daille's  "  Traites  de 
I'Eglise  de  1' Empire  des  saincts  peres"  (liv.  ii.,  chap.  3), 
on  the  abuse  of  allegorical  interpretation,  which  is  worthy 
of  study  by  those  who  are  tempted  to  fall  into  this  vein. 
The   Welsh   preachers  have    resuscitated   this   style   of 


'  Neale's  "  Medifeval  Preachers,"  p.  38. 


3l6  IIOMILETICS  PROPER. 

preaching  ;  but  it  were  better  left  with  the  preachers  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  and  not  be  largely  revived  ;  for  this 
strained  use  of  texts  may  easily  be  carried  too  far  ;  thus 
Hagenbach  mentions  that  a  German  preacher  drew  from 
the  Saviour's  words  on  the  cross,  "  I  thirst,"  the  theme 
that  "  Christ  thirsted  for  the  salvation  of  men." 

It  is  one  thing  to  take  an  outward  type  as  obviously 
suggesting  an  inward  truth,  and  another  thing  deliber- 
ately to  turn  the  text  to  a  sense  entirely  different  from 
what  it  will  plainly  bear. 

The  allegorical  use  of  texts  in  the  past,  especially  by 
the  older  Puritan  divines,  among  them  peerless  John 
Bunyan  himself,  is  an  illustration  of  this.  To  what 
absurdities  has  it  not  sometimes  led  ?  The  four  streams 
of  Paradise  have  been  metamorphosed  into  the  four  evan- 
gelists ;  and  the  two  pennies  given  by  the  Good  Samari- 
tan have  been  turned  into  the  two  sacraments  of  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper.  A  preacher  who  deals  in  such 
a  fanciful  torturing  of  the  plain  meaning  of  texts,  not 
only  shows  weakness,  but  is  apt  to  lead  himself  and  others 
into  error,  mysticism,  and  obscurity,  as  did  Origen,  with 
all  his  profound  intellect  and  piety. 

This  typical  method  of  preaching  has  not  entirely 
died  out  in  these  modern  times  or  in  sober,  unimagi- 
native, straightforward  New  England.  How  often  do 
we  hear  preachers  of  a  poetical  turn  of  mind  (poetry 
is  good  in  a  sermon  in  its  right  place)  make  use  of  this 
method.  Such  preachers  would  really  prefer  to  take  the 
narrative  of  Christ  in  the  storm  and  turn  it  all  into  a 
spiritual  sense,  thereby  giving  scope  for  picture- drawing, 
and  for  the  display  of  the  fancy,  than  to  take  a  text 
plainly  teaching  the  same  truths  of  spiritual  peril  through 
sin,  and  redemption  through  Christ.  But  false  doctrine  is 
sometimes  taught  in   this  way,  and   all  the   doctrine   in 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         317 

such  a  sermon  exists  solely  in  the  preacher's  imagination, 
and  not  a  word  of  it  is  contained  in  the  narrative. 
Everything  in  the  way  of  fact  or  plain  history  in  the  Bible 
may  be  typified  by  a  preacher  who  cultivates  a  poetical 
style  of  sermonizing  ;  and  this  habit  of  mind  should  be 
strenuously  guarded  against.  In  a  modern  Protestant 
sermon  noticed  by  Coquerel  (perhaps  its  counterpart  may 
have  been  heard  by  every  one  of  us)  the  narrative  of  the 
healing  of  blind  Bartimeus  has  thus  been  employed. 
Two  kinds  of  blindness  are  designated  in  this  history, 
that  of  the  body  and  that  of  the  soul.  Christ  has  cured 
one,  he  can  cure  the  other  ;  Bartimeus  hears  a  great 
noise  of  the  multitude,  which  signifies  the  advancing 
triumph  of  the  Christian  faith  in  the  world  ;  his  cry  to 
Christ  to  heal  him  is  the  first  cry  of  the  sinner  convicted 
of  sin  ;  the  multitude  repressing  this  cry  means  the  op- 
position of  the  world  to  spiritual  things  ;  the  answer  of 
Christ,  "  What  wouldst  thou  that  I  should  do  unto  thee," 
is  the  voice  of  divine  grace  ;  the  recovery  of  sight  is  re- 
generation. This,  though  strained,  is  not  so  far  out  of 
the  way  as  are  many  such  ingenious  discourses.  But  such 
sermons  are  not  preaching,  they  are  rather  the  parody  of 
the  gospel.  There  is  only  the  shadow  of  the  truth  in 
them.  Let  us,  then,  resist  this  seductive  temptation  as 
much  as  possible,  and  not  be  carried  away  by  the  oppor- 
tunity which  hundreds  of  like  passages  in  sacred  writ 
affords  us  of  this  kind  of  artificial  and  spiritualizing  dis- 
course. 

Yet  the  use  of  the  legitimate  principle  of  accommoda- 
tion in  texts  cannot  be  given  up  ;  for  if  we  give  it  up  we 
should  lose  much  that  is  interesting  to  the  mind  in  the 
inward  and  outward  resemblances  of  truth,  and  in  the 
matter  of  actual  inspiration.  Language,  for  example, 
which    is   addressed    to    the    apostles,  may,  in    most   in- 


3>8  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

stances,  be  rightly  accommodated  to  apply  to  all  Chris- 
tians. But  in  using  accommodated  texts,  let  this  be  ever 
remembered,  that  the  original  significance  of  the  text 
should  not  be  lost  sight  of  ;  it  should  be  fairly  applied, 
and  it  should  always  be  clearly  stated  in  some  way  that 
it  is  an  accommodated  use  of  the  text. 

But  while  freely  yielding  this  principle,  we  are  decidedly 
opposed  to  the  employment  of  what  are  called  "  motto 

texts."     Motto  texts  are  those  that  are  not 
Motto  texts.         -       ,  ,    .         ,     .  .     , 

made  the   real   foundation    of   the    sermon. 

They  are  used  merely  as  a  matter  of  form,  in  order 
that  there  may  be  a  text  to  stand  at  the  head  of  the 
sermon  ;  for  they  exert  no  further  shaping  influence 
on  the  subject,  or  on  the  mode  of  treating  it.  This  is 
using  the  word  of  God  unworthily,  and  the  "  text" 
becomes  a  "pretext."  Thus,  to  take  a  passage  like 
Rom.  6:5-11,  so  full  of  rich  and  particular  instruc- 
tions upon  the  central  doctrine  of  the  gospel,  and, 
merely  because  it  refers  to  the  subject  of  the  atonement, 
or  has  perhaps  that  word  in  it,  to  preach  a  sermon  in  the 
usual  abstract  way,  drawn  from  theological  class-notes, 
or  systematic  treatises  on  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement, 
without  further  reference  to  the  text  itself,  would  be  an 
unwarranted  abuse  of  the  Scriptures. 

(r.)  It  should  have  correctness.  That  is,  the  text 
should  be  employed  in  the  sermon  according  to  the  truth, 
according  to  the  true  intention  of  the  author,  be  he  God 
or  man  ;  and  it  should  be  applied  to  a  subject  which  is 
the  true  one  taught  by  it,  and  not  to  any  other  subject. 
This  may  seem  to  repeat  what  was  said  before,  but  we 
do  not  refer  now  altogether  to  the  correctness  of  the 
verbal  interpretation  of  the  text,  to  which  reference  has 
been  already  made  ;  but  more  to  the  substance  of  the 
text  itself,  since  truth  is  better  than  falsehood,  and  even 


ANAL  YSIS  AXD  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         319 

truth  cannot  be  helped  by  untrue  arguments  ;  and  if  cer- 
tain texts  have  been  used  from  time  immemorial  as  proof- 
texts  of  any  particular  subject,  which  are  not  so  in  fact, 
it  is,  on  a  broader  view  of  truth,  right  to  disuse  them  for 
such  a  purpose,  and  to  give  them  their  true  meaning  ; 
for  it  is  not  the  number  of  proof-texts  that  establishes  a 
truth,  but  the  clearness  and  authority  of  one  text  ;  and 
if  many  texts  may  be  used  by  way  of  illustration,  they 
should  not  be  employed  as  proof,  and  much  less  as  con- 
taining the  true  substance  of  a  particular  doctrine  or  sub- 
ject. This  opens  an  interesting  field  of  discussion  in 
regard  to  the  external  and  internal  sense  of  Scripture  and 
the  just  limitations  of  biblical  truth  ;  which  questions, 
however,  we  cannot  here  discuss. 

The  simple  principle  now  before  us  is,  that  the  text 
should  be  correctly  employed  in  its  relation  to  the  sub- 
ject ;  that  the  real  contents  of  the  subject  should  be 
found  in  it,  though  it  may  be  in  the  simplest  synthetical 
form  ;  it  should  not  be  wrested  from  its  true  meaning, 
force,  and  relations. 

Preachers  will  hereafter  be  called  to  a  stricter  account 
in  their  use  of  texts  ;  they  will  be  required  to  be  more 
candid  and  true,  and  their  preaching  will  gain  propor- 
tionally in  point  and  power. 

(rt^.)  It  should  have  fruitfulness.  Texts  should  be 
taken  which  are  fitted  to  produce  rich  and  fruitful  ser- 
mons. 

The  Bible  is  full  of  germinal  texts  capable  of  almost 
infinite  development  ;  and  yet  every  word  and  even 
sentence  in  the  Bible  which  seems  to  convey  such  fruitful 
ideas,  does  not  always  do  so. 

Preachers  are  sometimes  apt  to  be  caught  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  passage  rather  than  by  the  substance  of  truth 
which  it  contains  ;  for  a  text  often  appears  very  sugges- 


320  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

tive  ;  it  seems  to  open  a  most  fruitful  subject  of  thought  ; 
whereas  it  may  be  but  an  incidental  or  accidental  ex- 
pression, and  by  no  means  the  best  and  fullest  manifesta- 
tion of  the  truth.  Vinet  (Homiletics,  p.  137)  thus  de- 
scribes a  fruitful  text  :  "  I  call  a  text  fruitful  which,  with- 
out foreign  additions,  without  the  aid  of  minute  details, 
without  discussion,  furnishes,  when  reduced  to  its  just 
meaning,  matter  for  a  development  interesting  in  all  its 
parts,  and  which  leaves  with  us  an  important  result." 

The  subject  of  the  text  lies   so  directly  at  the  founda- 
tion of  Christian  preaching,  and  so  comprehends  within 
itself  the  whole   matter  both  of  the  sources 

of  power  and  the  inherent  difificulties  of  ser- 
suggestions         ^     _  ... 

on  the        monizmg,  that  we  cannot  forbear,  m  closmg 

handling  and  this  subject,  even  at  the  risk  of  some  repe- 
interpretation  tition,    to   give    a    few    brief   practical    sug- 
of  texts.      gestions  upon  the  matter  of  the  proper  hand- 
ling and  interpretation  of  texts. 
y       I.   Interpretation  as  the  primary  sphere  of  the  preacher. 
This  truth  has  been,  perhaps,  already  sufficiently  dwelt 
upon.      Interpretation    forms  the  primitive 
Interpretation  gpj^gj.^   of  the   preacher's    appointed  work  ; 

r  Ju    he  is,  for  the  purposes  of  instruction,  not  to 
sphere  of  the  >  r      r- 

preacher.  invent  new  truth,  but  to  explain  and  to  make 
clear  truth  already  revealed  ;  he  is  not  to 
preach  primarily  from  a  philosophy  of  divine  truth,  or 
even  from  the  "analogy  of  faith,"  or  from  previously 
conceived  theological  systems  and  theories,  whether  his 
own  or  others  (and  which  are  very  good  in  their  place), 
but  from  the  basis  of  a  sound  interpretation  of  the  word 
of  God,  and  of  that  particular  portion  or  text  of  Scripture 
with  which  he  is  dealing. 

2.   Classification  of  texts  for  the  purpose  of  preaching. 


ANALYSIS  AND  COAf POSITION  OF  SERMON.         321 

There  is  no  book  so  multiform  in  its  aspects  as  the  Bible, 

being  made  in  different  stages  of  religious 

,        ,  1  1       f  •-   1     •  f  Classification 

development,  and  much  of  it  bemg  of  pecu- 

^  ^  .        .  of  texts, 

liar  and  supernatural  import,  where  inspira- 
tion struggles  to  express  itself  through  an  imperfect  me- 
dium of  human  language.  How  large  a  part  of  the  Bible  is 
poetical,  in  which  the  deeper  truth  finds  expression  in  type, 
figure,  and  symbol — in  a  word,  in  purely  emotional  lan- 
guage. How  much  of  the  Bible  also  is  prophetical,  wherein 
addition  to  the  vagueness  of  poetic  symbolism,  the  uncer- 
tain element  of  futurity  comes  in  !  Another  portion  of 
the  Bible  is  pure  narrative,  or  the  historic  record  of  actual 
events  ;  and,  after  all,  but  a  small  part  of  the  Scriptures, 
in  form  at  least,  is  directly  doctrinal  and  didactic.  In 
handling  the  sacred  text  for  the  purposes  of  instruction, 
great  discrimination  and  wisdom  are  required  ;  the  spirit 
of  the  ancient  Antiochean  exegesis,  applying  sober  and 
common-sense  interpretation,  and  taking  things  as  they 
are  obviously  meant,  instead  of  the  wilder  speculative 
method  of  the  Alexandrian  school. 

As  to  the  actual  classification  of  texts,  no  scientific 
method  can  be  laid  down  ;  every  one  is  at  liberty  to 
make  his  own  classification  ;  but  one  can  see  at  a  glance 
that  there  are  at  least  half  a  score  of  broad  classes  or 
types  of  texts,  which  it  would  be  foolish  to  treat  in  a 
precisely  similar  way  ;  as,  for  example  : 

(i.)  Narrative  and  historical  ;  (2.)  Poetical,  symbolic, 
and  parabolic  ;  (3.)  Prophetic  ;  (4.)  Meditative,  aesthetic, 
and  subjective  ;  (5.)  Doctrinal  ;  (6.)  Ethical  and  practi- 
cal ;  (7.)  Spiritual,  or  purely  spiritual.  The  particular 
treatment  of  these  different  classes  we  will  not  here 
dwell  upon,  although  in  various  ways,  and  especially 
under  the  head  of  the  "development"  of  a  sermon, 
more  of  a  specific  nature  will  be  said. 


32  2  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

3.   Consulting   the   text    in    the   original.       That    one 

should,  in  every  instance,  consult  the  original  Hebrew  or 

Greek  in  selecting  a  text  to  preach  upon,  is 

Consulting    ^^  obligation  which  both  common  sense  and 

the  original    ,  ...  t^        ,  /• 

.     ,  honest  conscience  dictate.     But  how  often 

text. 

is  this  duty  lost  sight  of  by  even  the  best 
men.  The  pressure  of  official  work,  the  over-confidence 
in  our  own  English  version,  the  familiarity  which  breeds, 
if  not  contempt  yet  carelessness,  combine  to  make 
preachers  neglectful  in  this  respect.  But  there  are  three 
very  simple  and  very  familiar  suggestions,  which  might 
be  termed  axioms,  which  it  were  well  for  the  preacher  to 
fix  in  his  mind. 

(i.)  The  precise  translation  of  the  original  passage 
should  first  of  all  be  obtained.  There  should  be  no  in- 
definiteness  here.  Not  what  I  would  make  the  passage 
to  mean,  nor  what  Augustine,  or  Calvin,  or  Meyer,  or 
Alford,  or  any  other  man,  however  influential  as  a  teacher 
and  commentator,  would  make  it  to  mean  ;  but  what  the 
words  themselves  truly  and  obviously  teach,  this  should 
be  the  rule. 

(2.)  The  meaning  of  Scripture  is  to  be  obtained  in 
the  same  way  that  we  get  at  the  meaning  of  any 
other  book  written  in  a  foreign  tongue.  We  are  to  use 
our  best  intelligence,  judgment,  and  scholarship  for  this 
end.  Proper  reverence  for  the  word  of  God  does  not 
forbid  this.  The  Bible  does  not  take  itself  out  of  the 
category  of  books  that  are  addressed  to  the  understand- 
ing. It  was  meant  for  men,  was  meant  for  their  comprc 
hension,  instruction,  and  highest  welfare.  Although  the 
supernatural  truth  revealed  in  the  Bible  brings  in  a  new 
element  which  requires  the  opening  of  the  spiritual  sense 
to  comprehend  it  spiritually,  yet  as  far  as  the  meaning  of 
the  words  themselves  is  concerned,  the  same  appliances 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         yi^ 

and  methods  -the  use  of  grammars,  dictionaries,  and 
commentaries  which  would  be  required  in  translating  a 
classical  Greek  or  Latin  author,  and  the  same  philosophy 
of  language,  and  the  application  of  the  same  critical  skill 
and  judgment — these  are  equally  needed  in  the  study  of 
the  Scriptures.  They  are  both  lawful  and  essential. 
There  is  no  illusion  about  this.  One  must  understand 
Hebrew  and  Greek  to  interpret  the  Bible,  or  he  must 
take  a  second-hand  interpretation. 

(3.)  There  is  but  one  true  meaning  to  a  passage,  and 
not  many  meanings.  The  meaning  may  be  profound  and 
obscure,  but  is  one.  The  Bible  is  not  double-voiced.  It 
has  an  honest  meaning,  a  single  voice,  a  clear  teaching. 
We  have  only  to  discover  this.  Two  widely-different 
meanings  cannot  both  be  right.  We  may  be  in  doubt 
which  of  them  is  true,  but  one  only  is  true. 

4.   Scholarly  familiarity  with  the  peculiar  usages  and 
idioms    of   scriptural  language.     The  preacher  needs  a 
special  preparation  beyond  that  of  the  classi- 
cal scholar  for  the  study  and  interpretation      Scholarly 
of  the  Scriptures.     While  he  should  be  intel-     familiarity 

ligent  in   regard    to    those   historical,    geo- 

^  ^^  '    ^  idioms  of 

graphical,  chronological,  and  archaeological     scripture 

studies  which  fit  him  to  understand  so 
ancient  a  book,  he  should  especially  have  that  philo- 
logical knowledge  which  would  enable  him  to  have 
some  genuine  confidence  in  his  own  comprehension  of 
the  text.  He  should  be  able  to  enter  into  the  very 
spirit  of  the  original  ;  to  comprehend  the  force  of  char- 
acteristic biblical  forms  of  expression  ;  to  feel  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  use  of  certain  words  instead  of  others, 
and  even  of  particles,  accents,  and  emphases.  The  lan- 
guage of  Scripture,  archaic  and  Oriental,  cannot  be 
judged  by  the  principles  that  govern  classic   Greek    or 


324  HO  MILE  TICS    PROPER. 

Latin,  or  our  modern  English  tongue  ;  therefore  one  is 
compelled  to  make  a  comprehensive  study  of  the  Bible  in 
order  to  enter  into  these — we  will  not  call  them  niceties, 
for  they  are  vital  expressions  of  truth — but  rather  nice 
and  delicate  forms  of  varied  expression,  belonging  to  the 
original  languages  of  the  Bible,  upon  which  often  great 
truths  hang.  Thus,  for  example,  the  language  of  Scrip- 
ture delights  in  strong  contrasts — strong  lights  and  shades 
— by  which  the  truth  expressed  is  exaggerated,  as  well 
as  its  opposite,  in  order  to  produce  a  vivid  impression. 
Scriptural  exaggeration  is  not  erroneous  statement,  but 
statement  addressed  to  the  imagination  or  the  feelings 
rather  than  to  the  calm  didactic  reason. 

When  the  apostle  James  says  that  the  man  who  sins 
not  in  word,  the  same  is  a  perfect  man  ;  when  our  Lord 
says  that  he  who  hateth  not  his  father  and  mother  cannot 
be  his  disciple,  he  who  is  penetrated  with  the  spirit  of 
scriptural  language  knows  how  to  take  the  sense  of  such 
passages.  He  neither  gives  too  much  nor  too  little  stress 
to  them.  The  literal  intellect  cannot  be  applied  to  such 
texts,  but  there  must  be  the  higher  critical  and  sympa- 
thetic appreciation. 

The  Scriptures  also  often  boldly  set  forth  a  specific  case 
in  such  a  way  as  to  convey  to  the  less  thoughtful  or  the 
fanatically  disposed  mind,  the  impression  that  an  invaria- 
ble principle  or  rule  is  created  in  regard  to  every  such 
specific  case  ;  whereas  it  has  a  wider  and  more  general  im- 
port. When,  for  instance,  the  young  man  was  told  that 
he  must  sell  all  that  he  had  and  give  to  the  poor  be- 
fore he  could  follow  Christ,  and  the  narrative  is  left 
in  this  abrupt  manner,  if  it  were  argued  from  this  that 
the  holding  of  property  in  any  shape  by  every  person 
who  was,  or  desired  to  become  a  Christian,  was  sinful, 
this  would  be  erroneous  ;  but  there  was,  nevertheless,  a 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.        325 

great  principle  of  Christian  self-denial  taught  here.  To 
see  just  where  a  principle  applies,  in  what  it  is  gen- 
eral and  what  specific,  in  what  it  is  absolute  and  in 
what  relative,  requires  intelligent  and  cultivated  dis- 
crimination, especially  in  the  interpreter  and  teacher 
of  truth.  A  preacher  is  thus  called  upon  in  the  study 
of  texts  constantly  to  use  his  finest  powers  of  under- 
standing, disciplined  by  a  comprehensive  philological 
skill.  He  could  hardly  make  himself  perfect.  He  could 
not,  for  instance,  do  better  than  to  spend  a  definite 
period  in  studying  the  language  of  the  apostle  Paul,  his 
style,  his  mode  of  argumentation,  and  his  psychology. 
The  interpreter  should  be  able  to  note  and  understand 
the  marked  Hebraisms  and  Hellenisms  of  New  Testa- 
ment Greek.  "  In  especial  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  the 
Hebrew  of  the  Old  Testament  forms  the  basis  of  the  lan- 
guage and  idioms  of  the  Revealed  Word  ;  so  that  one 
cannot  fully  understand  the  language  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment without  understanding  that  of  the  Old.  Thus  one 
of  the  first  duties  of  the  preacher  is  to  ascertain  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words  of  the  text  in  their  common  usage  at 
the  time,  while  noting  their  idiomatic  and  familiar  appli- 
cations." 

This  leads  me  to  say  a  few  words   more  particularly 
upon  the  interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament. 

5.   The  interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament.     The  Old 

Testament  should  be  interpreted  in   accordance  with  the 

law    of   historic    and    essential  truth.       We 

mean  by  this  the  recognizing  of  a  principle  "  ^''P''^  *  *°" 

f  1  •         -11  •        1       o     •  of  the  Old 

of  historic  development  in  the  Scriptures —   Testament 

that  the  germ  and  not  the  full   fruitage  of 

divine  truth  is  to  be  found  in  the  Old  Testament.     Thus 

Dr.  Arnold  notices  the  error  continually  made  by  Christian 

preachers  in  regarding  the  holiness  of  the  Old  Testament 


326  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

patriarchs  as  absolute  instead  of  relative  ;  that  men  like 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  who  had  personal  communi- 
cation with  God,  had  such  a  knowledge  of  holy  and  divine 
things  as  the  apostles  John  and  Paul  had,  and  giving  to 
them  all  the  excellences  of  perfectly  holy  characters  ;  and 
as  if  they  had  a  nearer  communion  with  God  than  even 
Christians  had  ;  whereas  they  were  in  some  things  very 
imperfect.  This  arose  out  of  the  fact,  he  said,  that 
Christians  forget  the  privileges  in  their  communion  with 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Knowledge  and  holiness  are  infinitely 
clearer  under  the  reign  of  the  Spirit  than  in  the  time  of 
the  patriarchs,  when  it  was,  as  it  were,  a  relative  or  re- 
flected light  ;  but  now  it  is  one  direct  from  God  and 
Christ  through  the  Spirit.  In  the  Old  Testament  men 
are  not  addressed  as  having  faith  in  Christ,  or  as  looking 
to  eternal  life  with  any  large  and  settled  hope  such  as 
Christian  believers  possess.  Knowing  the  New,  we  find  a 
great  deal  in  the  Old  Testament  to  nourish  our  faith  and 
Christian  character  ;  but  the  light  after  all  was  not  per- 
fect, and  a  man  who  now  lives  entirely  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  in  fact  a  Jew,  or  a  Judaic  Christian. 

We  hear  the  principle  sometimes  laid  down  in  respect 
of  sermonizing  that  it  is  right  to  take  an  Old  Testament 
text  and  put  into  it  all  the  meaning  of  the  New  Testa- 
'^  ment.  This  is  a  wrong  principle.  It  is  making  the 
Scriptures  a  sort  of  divination  book,  and  it  is  destructive 
of  intelligent  interpretation.  The  Bible  should  be  looked 
upon  as  containing  the  greatest  and  most  sacred  truths, 
and  as  setting  forth  especially  God's  manifestation  of 
himself  and  his  dealing  with  men  ;  but  in  its  interpreta- 
tion, the  best  human  qualities  of  reason,  sagacity,  tact, 
learning,  and  common  sense  should  be  called  upon. 

This  is  seen  in  the  power  of  discriminating  between 
the   divine   and    the   human  elements  of  Scripture,  the 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         Z-1 

infallibility  of  the  divine  and  the  fallibility  of  the 
human. 

This  recognizes  in  the  writings  of  Scripture  the  use  of 
the  human  instrument,  the  reproducing  of  the  milieu  or 
immediate  surroundings  of  the  text,  such  as  the  age,  the 
habit  of  thought,  the  character  and  philosophy  of  the 
language. 

Let  us  not  start,  as  Arnold  did  not,  with  a  precon- 
ceived theory  of  inspiration  ;  but  let  us  reverently  and 
humbly  study  the  record  as  sent  from  God,  and  apply  to 
it  our  best  reason.  Undoubtedly  the  'nature  of  God's 
principles  in  his  own  word  can  be  best  vindicated  by  his 
own  acts  ;  or  those  portions  of  the  Old  Testament,  for 
example,  which  seem  very  obscure  and  difficult,  such  as 
the  slaughter  of  the  Canaanites,  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac,  the 
language  of  the  imprecatory  psalms — these  are  best 
explained  by  him  who  can  best  unravel  the  thread  of 
God's  religious  education  of  the  race  from  its  earliest  in- 
fancy. 

In  interpreting  the  Old  Testament,  one  should  have 
regard  also  to  the  principles  of  a  true  redaction  or  reduc- 
tion to  order  of  the  different  parts  and  books  of  the  Old 
Testament.  The  very  beginnings  of  Genesis  introduce 
us  to  two  distinct  accounts  of  the  creation.  The  books 
of  Samuel,  Kings,  and  Chronicles,  are  sometimes  parallel 
rather  than  continuous  history.  The  twenty-fourth  and 
the  twenty-sixth  chapters  of  the  first  book  of  Samuel  con- 
tain different  accounts  of  the  same  event.  How  many 
more  such  illustrations  might  be  given  ! 

6.   Consulting  the  context.     In  the   context  we   may 

find    circumstances,   definitions,   limitations, 

parallelisms,  illustrations  and  various  ideas,     ,    °^"  *"^ 
^  '  'the  context. 

examples  and  facts,  which  throw  great  light 

upon  the  true  meaning  of  the  text.     To  give  the  con- 


3-'S  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

text  due  consideration  is  a  well-settled  rule  of  homi- 
letics  ;  and  yet  how  often  is  it  violated  in  the  stereo- 
typed method  of  treating  texts.  The  old  motto  of  the 
mystics  and  the  allegorists,  "  Verba  Scriptura  tantuni 
ubique  sigitificare,  quantum  significare  possnnt,''  or  the 
idea  still  asserted  by  some  that  we  may  take  a  detached 
text  and  make  it  to  mean  all  that  the  words  in  themselves 
can  possibly  be  pressed  to  mean,  without  regard  to  its 
probable  and  true  meaning,  is  a  dangerous  rule  of  interpre- 
tation. The  text  may,  for  example,  be  originally  used  to 
apply  to  temporal  things,  and  we  should  be  careful  in 
applying  it  to  spiritual  things.  It  may  be  employed, 
originally,  simply  as  a  figure  of  speech,  and  not  literally. 
Now  a  figure  means  one  thing  in  one  place,  and  another 
thing  in  another.  A  phrase  in  the  mouth  of  one  person 
may  teach  a  very  different  lesson  from  what  it  does  in 
the  mouth  of  another.  The  Bible  is  not  a  "  lively 
oracle"  in  the  sense  of  enunciating  a  truth  without  regard 
to  order,  time,  or  circumstance  ;  but  it  is  addressed  to 
the  reason,  and  is  amenable  to  historic  conditions.  A 
good  Reference  Bible  is  of  assistance  in  enlarging  the 
scriptural  basis  of  a  sermon,  and  in  comparing  the  truth 
of  the  text  with  parallel  passages  teaching  the  same  truth 
in  different  aspects.  The  context  may  be  looked  upon 
in  its  historical  or  logical  connections,  either  In  regard 
to  its  relations  of  thought,  or  its  relations  of  time,  place, 
and  circumstance.  The  order  of  thought,  for  instance, 
in  a  Pauline  epistle,  though  it  may  be  often  recondite, 
because  connected  with  a  controversial  drift,  is  still  of 
the  greatest  importance  to  comprehend,  in  arriving  at  the 
general  tenor  and  significance  of  its  instruction.  We 
must,  in  fact,  study  the  whole  scope  of  the  passage  in  all 
its  relations  in  order  to  be  honest,  and  in  order  to  draw 
from  the  text  its  true  teaching  capacities. 


ANA  LYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SEP  M  ON.         529 

7.  Employing  a  text  containing  a  perfect  idea,  and  that 
the  complete  idea  of  the  author. 

This    should    be    done   as    far    as    possible,    especially 

when  we  preach  topical  sermons.     Claude's 

rule   is,   "  The  text  must   contain   the  com-  .* 

plete    idea   of  the  writer   from    whom    it    is       ,    ^  ^^ 

^  perfect  theme. 

borrowed  ;    for  it   is  his   language,  they  arc 

his  sentiments,  which  we  are  to  explain  to  our  hearers." 

In  a  word,  we  are  not  to  mangle  the  Bible.  \Vc  are  to 
get  at  the  full  and  rounded  meaning  of  the  Sacred  Word, 
and  to  discuss  the  true  subjects  and  truths  which  it  enun- 
ciates. We  should  not  be  hasty  to  draw  our  subjects  from 
texts.  Vinet  says  :  "  We  must  not  confound  texts  with 
phrases  and  periods,  nor  logical  unity  with  grammatical 
unity,  neither  must  we  think  that  the  text  ends  where  the 
grammatical  sense  ends,  or  even  where  logical  unity  closes. 
Many  logical  unities  may  together  form  a  greater  unity  ; 
and  it  is  impossible  to  see  beforehand,  and  in  an  absolute 
manner,  what  are  the  limits  of  a  true  text.  The  same 
text  may  furnish  ten  ;  ten  texts  may  make  one.  The 
art  of  cutting  up  a  text,  the  art  of  grouping  many  texts 
into  one,  deserves  examination."  ' 

In  order  to  retain  this  completeness  of  idea  in  the  text 
it  is  not  well,  as  a  general  rule,  to  employ  two  texts,  or 
to  employ  two  or  more  texts  from  different  parts  of  the 
Bible  ;  it  is  better  to  have  but  one  text,  one  passage  of 
Scripture,  and  that,  whether  long  or  short,  should  con- 
tain one  subject,  and  be  complete  in  itself. 

The  advice  is  commonly  given  that  the  text  should  be 
short,  for  a  short  text  is  better  remembered.  Brief,  con- 
densed, penetrating  texts  stick  in  the  memory  like  nails 
fastened  by  the  masters   of  assemblies.     And  yet  te.xts 


Vinet's  "  Homiletics,"  p.  141. 


53^  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

may  be  too  brief  ;  they  may  not  contain  a  whole  subject  ; 
they  may  be  mere  fragments  of  a  truth  or  of  a  sentence. 
The  better  rule  is,  that  the  text  should  contain  one  com- 
plete truth  or  idea,  and  then  it  may  be  long  or  brief.  What 
a  world  of  meaning  is  in  that  shortest  text  of  the  Bible, 
"  Jesus  wept  !"• 

It  is  wholly  unjustifiable  to  take  a  mere  portion  or 
clause  of  a  verse,  even  if  it  contains  good  sense  in  itself, 
but  which,  by  thus  dismembering  it  from  the  rest,  does 
not  give  the  real  or  full  sense  intended  to  be  conveyed 
by  the  whole  verse  ;  such  a  text,  for  instance,  as  Heb. 
4:2,  "  But  the  word  preached  did  not  profit  them  ;" 
without  adding  the  very  important  clause,  "  not  being 
mixed  with  faith  in  them  that  heard  it."  The  longer 
the  passage,  however,  that  we  may  conveniently  employ 
for  a  text,  which  at  the  same  time  contains  a  perfect 
theme,  and  does  not  violate  the  law  of  unity,  the  more 
of  the  actual  body  of  Scripture  we  bring  before  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  nearer  do  we  come,  undoubtedly,  to  the 
primitive  style  of  preaching. 

The  following  texts  might  be  cited  as  having  unity  of 
theme,  or  as  containing  one  main  thought  without  excess 
or  deficiency,  though  composed,  it  may  be,  of  elaborate 
parts  :  I  Pet.  i  :  24,  25,  the  imperishable  character  of 
the  Word  of  God  as  contrasted  with  the  changing  char- 
acter of  visible  things  ;  John  3  :  16,  the  sending  of 
Christ  a  convincing  and  triumphant  proof  of  the  love  of 
God  ;  I  John  4  :  19,  the  grand  apology  of  Christians  for 
loving  God  ;  Galatians  3  :  15-22,  the  sureness  of  the 
promises  in  Christ.  Even  in  so  elaborate  a  passage  as  that 
last  cited  there  is  really  but  one  idea  running  through 
it  ;  as  also  in  James  i  :  22-27,  the  hearing  and  the  doing 
of  the  word  in  their  relations. 

8.    Parabolic  texts.      In  employing  these  we    should 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         331 

strive  to  come  at  the  gcrminant  idea  of  the  figure,  or  the 

idea  with   which  the    picture   is  compared, 

or   to    which    it    is    parallel.       We     should     Fig^'-^tiye 

and  parabolic 
get  at  the  foundation   truth  of  a  figure  or  a        texts 

parable  ;  and  such  texts  are  good  and  rich 
texts  if  rightly  treated.     Indeed,  everything  to  the  spir 
itual  mind  becomes  an  image  of  the  spiritual,  and  yet,  as 
we  have  before  said,  care  should  be  taken  not  to  "  spirit- 
ualize" texts  unduly. 

In  regard  to  the  homiletical  treatment  of  the  parables 
of  Scripture  there  are  two  theories  ;  one  is,  that  there  is 
but  one  main  spiritual  meaning  or  lesson  taught,  and  that 
the  circumstantials  of  the  parable  are  wholly  secondary, 
or  only  intended  to  make  the  story  natural  and  coherent  ; 
the  other  is,  that  all  parts  of  the  parable,  that  every  cir- 
cumstance, and  every  turn  of  the  allegory  and  every  word 
is  important  and  full  of  didactic  significance.  While  the 
first  of  these  is,  in  our  opinion,  the  nearest  to  the  truth, 
and  comes  under  the  principle  that  a  metaphor  should 
not  be  made  to  run  upon  four  feet,  yet  for  the  preacher's 
purposes  the  parables  of  our  Saviour  are  so  wonderfully 
full  of  meaning  that  he  cannot  afford  to  neglect  any  part, 
or  circumstance,  or  feature  of  them  ;  each  serving  to 
color,  modify,  and  enrich  the  wdiole  lesson. 

There  is,  at  least,  whatever  theory  of  homiletical  treat- 
ment we  may  adopt,  one  broad  generalization  which  will 
comprehend  the  whole  lesson  and  beauty  of  the  parable. 
But  for  one  to  dwell  too  precisely  upon  the  poetic  and 
symbolical  portions  of  the  Bible,  to  go  into  the  minutiiu 
of  the  fringes  on  the  priests'  garments  ;  this  leads  to  arti- 
ficiality and  barrenness. 

We  should  avoid  unfruitful  figures  or  figures  that  do 
not  contain  real  truths.  We  should  shun  strained  paral- 
lelisms that   the  Scriptures   themselves  never  intended. 


332  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

But  such  passages  as  John  4  :  lO  and  i  Cor.  12  :  25-27 
are  of  the  number  of  inspired  figures  where  one  cannot 
easily  make  a  mistake  in  the  thing  signified  ;  but  which, 
when  rightly  understood,  convey  living  truths,  reasons, 
proofs,  vividly  expressed.  Often  the  parable  forms  a 
true  subject  in  itself,  without  the  need  of  drawing  out  a 
propositional  form,  or  a  more  distinct  theme,  as  Matt. 
13  :  1-9.  It  is  simply  enough  to  comment  upon  this 
parable  of  the  sower,  especially  as  the  Lord  has  been  his 
own  interpreter  in  it,  textually,  part  by  part.  In  treating 
such  a  parable,  the  sermon  should  not  lose  its  simple  ex- 
planatory form.  Some  parables  are  difificult  to  explain, 
to  group  the  ideas  boldly  and  successfully,  to  grasp  the 
inner  sense  of  the  truth  amid  their  contrariety  and  subtle 
changes.  Such  are  the  parables  of  the  "  unjust  stew- 
ard," and  of  the  "  laborers  in  the  vineyard." 

9.  The  use  of  historical  texts.     In  treating  such  texts 
one  may  either  lay  the  stress  upon   the  main  event   con- 
tained  in   the   narrative,  or  upon  some  side 

Historic      event,  or  side-issue,  growing  out  of  it.      He 
texts 

may    take  the  whole  of  a  history,  or  only  a 

part,  a  single  salient  circumstance,  a  single  person,  or  a 

single  act  or  remark  of  a  single  person  ;  but  if  he  does 

this  last  he  must  do  it  regardful  of  the  connections,  and 

of  the  whole  texture  of  the  historic  web  out  of  which  he 

draws  this  thread.     We  shall   speak   further  of   historic 

sermons,  under  the  head  of  "  development." 

10.   Time  of  choosing  the   text.      Thp  preacher,   as  a 

general  rule,  should  select  the  text  before  he  selects  the 

subject.     Sometimes  this  may  not  be  feasi- 

Time  of      |_^jg^  ^g  jj^  occasional  sermons,  but   it  is  the 

choosing  text.    .,,,.,  .  ,  c 

right  habit  for  an  mterpreter  or  preacher  of 

the  Scriptures  to  form.     This  seems  to  honor  the  Word 
of  God — that  the  subject   should   spring  from  it   rather 


ANAL  YSIS  AXD  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         333 

than  that  it  should  be  fitted  to  the  subject.  This  rule  is 
continually  violated  by  those  who  preach  altogether  topi- 
cally. 

Dr.  Emmons  recommended  the  choosing  of  a  subject 
before  a  text  ;  and  there  may  be  exceptional  cases  where 
this  is  good  or  justifiable,  as,  for  instance,  when  a  subject 
which  has  possessed  the  mind  has  sprung  up  without  con- 
nection with  any  particular  text  ;  yet,  when  an  appropri- 
ate text  is  found  for  such  a  subject,  it  will  often  receive 
new  light  and  richness  from  the  discussion  of  the  text 
Itself.  Paul  said  to  Timothy  (2  Tim.  4:2),  "  Preach  the 
word. " 

11.  Announcing  the  text.      As  a  practical  hint   in  the 

mere  matter  of  delivery,  the  text  should   be  announced 

first  of  all.      It   is  the  European  custom  to 

preface  the   text   with  some  remarks,  some-       nnouncing 

•  1         ,-    ,  ,  ,       the  text. 

times  with   a  little   sermon,  on   the  general 

subject  of  praise,  or  on    the   necessity  of  God's  blessing 

the  word  ;  our  own  custom  of  announcing  the  text  first, 

with    some  simple  introductory   phrase,   is,   however,  we 

think,  the  best. 

12.  Pronouncing  the  text.  As  a  second  hint  in  the  de- 
livery, the  text  should  be  pronounced  clearly,  so  that  no 
one  in  the  audience  should  fail  to  hear  it.     All 

things  should  be  in  readiness,  so  that  there       , 

'='  '     _  _         .        the  text. 

may  be  no  haste,  or  bustling,  business-like  air 
at  the  commencement  of  the  discourse.  Even  as  the  pulpit 
itself  should  be  entered  with  manly  dignity  and  serious- 
ness, so  the  opening  services  should  be  simple,  modest, 
serious,  yet  without  dulness  or  gloomy  gravity.  There 
should  be  no  act  or  gesture  that  draws  the  attention  of  the 
audience  particularly  to  the  speaker  ;  but  the  thought  of 
God  and  the  word  of  God  should  be  the  first  impression. 
It  is  well  to  mention  distinctly  the  chapter  and  verse  before 


334  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

mentioning  the  words  of  the  text  ;  for  the  habit  of  con- 
sulting the  Bible  and  following  the  preacher  in  the  Bible 
upon  the  part  of  the  congregation,  is  certainly  to  be  en- 
couraged. If  the  text  is  a  brief  one  it  is  well  to  read  it 
twice  ;  if  a  longer  one,  it  may  be  repeated  in  some  way 
in  the  introduction  ;  at  all  events,  the  audience  should 
hear  and  understand  distinctly  what  the  text  is,  or  the 
effect  of  the  discourse  is  greatly  impaired,  perhaps  lost. 
The  text  should  be  read  in  a  slow  and  clear  voice,  but 
not  loud,  and  perhaps  a  little  more  emphatically  the 
second  time  than  the  first. 

Sec.    14.    TJlc  Introduction. 

Napoleon  is  reported  to  have  said  that  "  the  first  five 
JC  minutes  of  a  battle  are  the  decisive  ones  ;"  and  this  re- 
mark might  sometimes  also  be  applied  to  a  sermon  ;  for 
although  the  preacher,  like  a  military  general,  by  good 
fortune  and  skill  may  be  able  to  recover  lost  ground,  he 
may  also,  like  a  general,  not  be  able  to  restore  the  lost 
chances  of  a  blundering  and  unfortunate  initiative  move- 
ment, and  may  be  forced  to  a  humiliating  defeat. 

The  introduction  to  a  discourse  is  naturally  compared 
to  the  door,  or  vestibule,  of  a  house  :  it  opens  to  what 
the  house  contains.  The  comparison  might  be  carried 
still  further  ;  for  since  the  door  of  the  house  should  ac- 
cord with  the  style  and  character  of  the  house  itself, 
and  one  would  not  put  a  Grecian  portico  on  a  Gothic 
house,  so  the  introduction  should  harmonize  with  the 
subject  of  the  discourse,  and  not  strike  the  mind  with 
incongruity  ;  and  as  the  door  ought  not  to  be  too  big 
for  the  house,  neither  should  the  introduction  be  so  for 
the  sermon.  Neither  should  the  doorway  be  mean  and 
narrow,  nor  the  introduction  fail  of  an  air  of  freedom  and 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  335 

simple  elegance  ;  and  as  the  door  is  generally  placed  in 
the  centre  of  the  building,  in  like  manner  the  introduc- 
tion strikes  the  central  thought  and  purpose  of  the  ser- 
mon. 

In  the  matter  of  the  introduction,  it  is  well  to  study 
the  best  models,  not  only  of  the  introductions  of  orations 
and  serm.ons,  but  of  all  true  literary  works  ; 

for    every   work    addressed    to    the    human  "  7  o 

.        ,,  f.     .  models, 

mind  must  have  an  intelligent  and  nt  begin- 
ning, which  suggests  its  object  and  denotes  its  leading 
idea.  The  brief  but  impressive  introductions  of  the 
books  of  the  Bible  show  that  their  authors,  writing  under 
the  impulse  of  inspiration,  did  not  disdain  this  rational 
method  of  making  their  objects  known,  of  interesting 
those  whom  they  addressed.  The  short  introductions  of 
the  "Iliad,"  the  "^neid,"  the  "Paradise  Lost,"  the 
"  Divina  Commedia, "  the  "  Faerie  Queene,"  and  the 
"  Jerusalem  Delivered,"  short  as  they  are,  may  have  cost 
their  authors  more  labor  than  any  other  part  of  their  -^ 
poems,  and  may  have  been  the  last  finished  ;  for  they 
gathered  up  all  the  rays  of  light  into  one  beam,  they 
smote  the  human  mind  Mnth  a  new  thought  and  theme. 

Although  it  is  well  for  a  preacher  to  study  good  models 
of  introductions  in  the  works  of  great  writers,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  orations  and  discourses  of  the  best  orators,  it 
is  better  to  take  the  best  preachers  for  our  models. 

Dr.  South's  introductions  are  characteristic,  and  may 
be  described  by  the  word  commanding ;  for  they  imme-  '^ 
diately  arrest  attention,  and  strike  the  key-note  of  the 
sermon  with  a  ringing  blow,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  Listen, 
ye  people,  to  what  I  have  to  say  on  this  subject,  for  I 
have  that  to  say  which  is  important."  There  is  no  frip- 
pery, or  fancy,  or  fine  writing,  but  a  plain  common  sense, 
which  appeals  at  once  to  the  masculine  understanding. 


33(^  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

and  leads  the  hearer  to  say,  "  At  all  events,  here  is  a  man 
who  has  begun  to  speak  ;  he  is  worth  listening  to,  even  if 
I  cannot  agree  with  him."  South's  introductions  are  not 
so  long  as  to  lead  the  mind  away  from  the  object  set 
before  him,  or  from  the  work  laid  out  in  the  text  itself — 
which  he  explains  and  develops  with  great  care. 

Dr.  Emmons's  introductions  are  also,  in  some  respects, 
models  of  excellence,  and  possess  the  same  characteris- 
tics of  common  sense,  and  the  union  of  strong  thought 
with  simple  expression.  They  are  judicious  introduc- 
tions ;  they  seem  perfectly  pertinent  to  the  subject,  while 
at  the  same  time  they  are  sagacious,  and  they  awaken 
curiosity.  They  are  like  a  Doric  porch — very  plain  and 
unornamented,  but  with  a  certain  pleasing,  attractive 
majesty. 

Saurin's  introductions  are  particularly  happy,  and 
sometimes  they  are  exceedingly  bold  and  striking.  They 
make  it  difficult  to  carry  on  and  out  the  first  impressions 
produced,  and  which  it  would  not  be  well  for  any  less 
brilliant  and  vigorous  preacher  to  imitate. 

Of  contemporaneous  and  younger  preachers,  the  ser- 
mons of  F.  W.  Robertson  deserve  to  be  studied  for  their 
artistic  excellence.  Some  of  his  introductions  consist  of 
but  six  or  seven  lines  ;  others  seem  to  lead  on  imper- 
ceptibly, without  indicating  where  they  leave  off,  into 
the  heart  of  the  sermon  ;  but  in  all  of  them,  while  there 
is  no  display,  there  is,  at  the  outset,  a  fresh  turn  given 
to  the  subject,  a  new  and  awakening  train  of  thought 
"w  started.  Robertson's  introductions  give  the  idea  of  a 
steel  forceps  seizing  upon  an  object  with  tenacious 
grasp,  and  holding  it  up  with  perfect  ease  and  power, 
turning  it  round,  and  then  thrusting  it  into  the  glow- 
ing fire  of  thought,  and  welding  it  with  the  hammer 
of  an  earnest  purpose  :   his  introduction  seems  to  say, 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         337 

"  I  have  thought  this  subject  through  ;  I  have  gone 
to  the  heart  of  it  ;  I  intend  to  treat  it  in  my  own 
way,  and  out  of  my  own  head  ;"  and  then  the  preacher 
proceeds  to  hiy  the  subject  open,  with  the  same  free  and 
confident  power.  There  is  no  parading  of  theological  or 
philological  pedantry  ;  he  is  evidently  not  talking  to 
scholars  or  philosophers,  but  he  is  talking  to  men — to 
thinking  and  feeling  men.  Perhaps  the  epithet  which 
would  best  characterize  his  introductions  is,  manly  ;  just 
like  the  greeting  of  one  genuine  man  to  another,  with  no 
servility  and  no  concealment,  and  yet  with  a  certain 
thoughtfulncss  and  art.  The  introduction  to  the  sermon 
on  "  Caiaphas'  View  of  a  Vicarious  Atonement"  (F'irst 
Series,  p.  164)  is  a  masterpiece  of  elaborate  and  subtile 
thought,  as  preparing  the  way  for  a  remarkable  and 
original  view  of  the  atonement  ;  but  generally  he  begins 
with  a  simple,  strong,  and  interesting  train  of  thought, 
without  a  shadow  of  learned  affectation,  or  even  of  mock 
rhetoric  ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  sermon  on  "  Worldli- 
ness"  (Second  Series,  p.  173),  from  the  text  i  John 
2  :  15-17.  This  introduction,  while  it  is  simple  and 
easy  to  comprehend,  yet  contains  an  extremely  interest- 
ing and  profound  question,  to  the  solution  of  which  the 
mind  of  the  hearer  is  excited  and  pushed  on.  The  some- 
what extended  introduction  to  the  sermon  on  *'  Realizing 
the  Second  Advent"  (First  Series,  p.  180)  is  a  fine  exam- 
ple of  the  plain,  strong,  unpedantic,  and  yet  fresh  and 
original  way  in  which  this  preacher  takes  up  a  theme  ;  it 
is  the  highest  art  of  a  cultured  and  philosophic  mind, 
determined  to  be  simple,  determined  to  be  true  and 
practical,  and  to  be  understood  by  all. 

Robertson's  introductions  are,  in  fact,  unconscious  ex- 
hibitions of  the  man  himself,  of  his  earnest,  penetrating, 
and,  as  it  were,  military  mind,  that  surveys  the  field  at  a 


35^  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

glance,  and  at  once  seizes  upon  the  most  advantageous 
positions  to  bring  his  forces  into  action.  He  stands  be- 
fore us  at  the  instant  he  begins  to  speak,  an  able  and 
sincere  teacher,  who  must  be  attended  to  ;  he  wins,  in 
his  very  introduction,  our  respect  for  himself,  if  not  our 
convictions  of  the  truth  of  what  he  says  ;  and  the  hearer 
wishes  to  hear  such  a  man  through,  which  is  an  important 
point  gained.  That  is,  perhaps,  the  great  end  of  the  in- 
troduction, which  should  excite  a  strong  and  healthy  feel- 
ing of  expectation  for  what  is  to  follow. 

The  introductions  of  J.  H.  Newman's  sermons  are 
generally  very  happy,  easy,  and  at  the  same  time  cal- 
y  culated  to  interest  and  attract.  They  contain  some 
fresh  thought,  but  clothed  in  simple  language,  e.g.,  in  a 
sermon  upon  "  hypocrisy,"  he  begins  thus  :  "  Hypocrisy 
is  a  serious  word.  We  are  accustomed  to  consider  the 
hypocrite  as  a  hateful,  despicable  character,  and  an  un- 
common one.  How  is  it,  then,  that  our  blessed  Lord, 
when  surrounded  by  an  innumerable  multitude,  began, 
first  of  all,  to  warn  his  disciples  against  hypocrisy,  as 
though  they  were  in  special  danger  of  becoming  like 
those  base  deceivers,  the  Pharisees  ?  Thus  an  instructive 
subject  is  open  to  our  consideration,  which  we  will  now 
pursue."  ' 

What  is  an  introduction  ?  (Lat.  exordium,  Gr.  proem.') 
To  speak  in  general  terms,  it  is  something  which  conducts 
to  the  real  subject,  but  which  is  not  itself  the  real  subject. 
It  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  the  beginning  of  the  discourse, 
X  but  it  leads  to  the  beginning.  It  does  not  even  include  all 
that  is  preliminary  to  the  proposition  in  the  way  of  actual 
explanation  or  clearing  up  of  difficulties  ;  but  it  has  regard 
rather  to  the  state  of  mind  of  the  audience  and  of   the 


'  "  Parochial  and  Plain  Sermons,"  Ser.    loth. 


ANAL  YSIS  AND   COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         339 

speaker,  putting  the  speaker  in   correspondence   with  the 
audience. 

We  would,    therefore,  more   fully  define  a  true  intro- 
duction to  be,  all  that  precedes  the  real  discussion  of  the 
subject,  and   which   is   fitted    to    secure  the 
favorable   attention    of    the    hearer    to    the  ^^efinition  of 
,  11-1  introduction, 

speaker  and  to  his  theme, 

Quintilian  says,  "  An  exordium  is  designed  to  make 
the  hearer  think  favorably  of  what  the  speaker  is  about 
to  say."  Schott's  definition  is,  "All  that  part  of  a 
sermon  which  is  intended  to  prepare  the  hearers  for  the 
body  of  the  sermon,  by  bringing  them  into  the  same  cir- 
cle of  ideas  and  sympathy  of  feeling  of  the  speaker." 
Vinet  says,  "  The  exordium  should  be  drawn  from  an 
idea  in  immediate  contact  with  the  subject,  without  form- 
ing a  part  of  it.  It  should  be  an  idea  between  which 
and  that  of  the  discourse  there  is  no  place  for  another 
idea,  so  that  the  first  step  we  take  out  of  that  idea,  trans- 
ports us  into  our  subject."  ' 

As  to  the  necessity  of  an  introduction,  although  there 
may  be  cases  where  an   introduction  is  not  necessary — 
where   the   subject,  for   instance,   is  a  very 
familiar   one,  or  where   the   audience  is  en-     'Necessity 
tirely  prepared  to  hear  it  discussed— yet  the  •  *.    j    *.• 
necessity  of  some  introduction  to  an  impor-  ~^ 

tant  discourse  is  founded  in  nature,  and  in  the  very  laws 
of  the  mind. 

Nature  has  few  sudden  movements  ;  the  ocean  shelves 
off  gradually,  and  one  season  imperceptibly  introduces 
another  ;  a  thunder-storm  which  rends  the  heavens  is 
preceded  by  a  period  of  impressive  silence  and  warning  ; 
a  battle   is   usually  begun    by  skirmishing  and    tentative 


-t- 


'  "  Homiletics,"  p.  300. 


34°  HOMILETTCS    PROPER. 

operations  ;  a  legislative  assembly  does  not  enter  upon 
important  business  at  the  first  moment  of  its  session,  but 
the  way  is  gradually  cleared  for  more  serious  questions. 
The  human  mind,  which,  in  its  healthy  state,  has  a  sense 
of  dignity  and  self-respect,  does  not  like  to  be  hurried, 
or  compelled  to  move  by  another's  impulse  rather  than 
by  its  own  voluntary  act  ;  it  will  not  be  pushed,  but  may 
be  drawn.  Some  preparation  of  the  mind  is  needed  on 
the  part  of  the  audience  for  the  full  influence  of  the  ora- 
tor to  be  felt,  or  for  the  permanent  influence  and  adoption 
of  new  ideas. 

An  introduction  is  generally  necessary  when  a  pecu- 
liar theme  is  to  be  treated  of,  or  to  be  drawn  from  the 
text.  When  the  theme  is  an  ordinary  or  very  familiar 
one,  there  is  no  necessity  of  a  special  exordium.  The 
reasons  for  an  exordium  in  political  and  forensic  address, 
and  which  are  absolutely  required  to  meet  opposing  opin- 
ions and  party  views,  do  not  seem  equally  to  apply  to  the 
preacher  and  his  audience,  who  are,  it  is  to  be  supposed, 
well  disposed  toward  him  and  ready  to  hear  what  he  has  to 
say.  Even  the  principle  sometimes  set  forth  that  the  in- 
troduction must  be  drawn  from  the  circle  of  ideas  in  which 
the  discourse  is  to  move,  is  only  partially  true  ;  for  the  text 
itself  has  already  introduced  this  circle  of  ideas,  the  intro- 
duction is  made  by  naming  the  text— the  path  is  opened. 
The  text  and  the  theme  stand  over  against  each  other,  the 
one  being  the  comprehensive  statement  of  the  contents 
of  the  other  ;  now  the  aim  of  the  introduc- 

Rhetoncal     ^.j^^^^  rhetorically,  or  as  it  regards  the  treat- 

.....       ment  of  the  subject,  is  to  mediate  between 
introduction.  •*        ' 

the  text  and  the  theme.  It  is  the  way  of 
arriving  at  the  one  from  the  other.  It  is  not  precisely 
the  way  in  which  the  preacher  himself  arrives  at  the 
theme  from  the  text  ;  it  may  be  a  shorter  or  it  may  be  a 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SEP M ON.         34 1 

longer  way.  But  the  introduction  is  the  genesis  of  the 
theme — the  process  of  the  text's  crystalHzation  into  the 
theme.  As  the  theme  is  the  expression  of  the  contents 
of  the  text,  the  introduction  is  the  transporting  of  the 
hearer  to  where,  so  to  speak,  he  will  see  and  find  for  him- 
self the  true  meaning  or  contents  of  the  text.  It  is 
gathering  the  different  threads  together  where  they  may 
be  seized  and  grasped.  In  occasional  sermons,  the  intro- 
duction mediates  between  the  text  and  the  occasion,  set- 
ting forth  the  relation  of  the  subject  to  the  time  and  cir- 
cumstances, and  showing  why  it  was  chosen  and  its  fit- 
ness.' 

But  what,  let  us  ask  definitely,  are  some  of  the  objects 
to  be  gained  by  a  good  introduction  ? 

I.    To   remove  actual   prejudices   against  ^^j^*^*^  ^°  ^® 

gained  by 
the  speaker.     The  preacher  may   have  ere-  .        .  ction 

ated  an  unfavorable  impression  by  his  course 
of  action  in  some  particular ;  he  may  have  aroused 
the  jealousy  or  antagonism  of  a  certain  class  in  his  au- 
dience— the  fashionable  class,  or  the  conservative  class, 
or  the  radical  class,  or  whatever  it  may  be.  He  may 
possibly  have  traits  of  character,  which,  he  is  conscious, 
place  him  in  an  unfavorable  light  with  his  hearers, 
especially  in  regard  to  his  introduction  of  particular 
subjects  ;  he  may  have  excited  suspicions  of  his  or- 
thodoxy, or,  at  least,  of  his  sincere  belief  in  some  por- 
tions of  the  Christian  faith  ;  and  yet,  although  he  is 
weak,  imperfect,  and  inconsistent,  the  truth  must  be 
preached,  the  instruction  must  be  given  to  the  people  : 
in  the  introduction,  then,  he  is  to  feel  his  way  through 
these  popular  prejudices,  and  dispel  them,  if  they  are 
unjust,    without,    perhaps,    seeming    to    do    so.      It    is 


'  See  Palmer's  "  Homiletlcs,  '  p.  532 


342  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

not  often  by  direct  allusions  to  himself  that  he  can  do 
this,  but  rather  by  indirect  suggestions  of  the  intrinsic 
importance  of  the  theme,  of  the  imperfection  of  preachers 
and  of  men,  and  of  the  perfection  of  truth. 

2.  To  create  a  favorable  regard  for  the  speaker.  He 
may  be  a  young  man,  a  comparative  stranger  ;  he  may 
have  an  abstruse,  or  what  may  be  called  even  an  am- 
bitious, theme  ;  he  should  begin  modestly  ;  the  old  Jew- 
ish rabbis  used  to  say  that  "the  creation  was  made 
from  night  to  morning,  not  from  morning  to  night  ;"  he 
should  avoid  making  too  great  promises  of  what  he  in- 
tends to  do  ;  he  should  show  an  honest  interest  in  the 
good  of  his  hearers,  without  saying  too  much  about  it — 
above  all  things,  avoiding  flattery,  which  was  the  fault  of 
some  of  the  old  French  court  preachers  ;  '  he  should  en- 
deavor, in  a  simple,  manly  way,  to  bring  himself  into 
sympathy  with  his  audience,  and  to  gain  their  good  will 
and  willing  hearing  ;  and  to  be  modest  and  in  earnest,  is 
the  best  way  to  effect  this. 

But  while  one  should  thus  be  modest  it  is  not  well  to 
apologize  in  the  introduction  ;  this  weakens  impressions 
and  diminishes  the  sense  of  authority  in  the  preacher. 
y  3.  To  create  a  favorable  regard  for  the  subject.  The 
preacher  is  to  turn  the  current  of  religious  feeling,  already 
set  flowing,  perhaps,  by  the  previous  devotional  exercises, 
into  the  contemplation  of  some  definite  religious  truth 
or  duty,  into  some  positive  and  special  direction.  In 
order  to  secure  this  end  of  a  favorable  regard  toward  his 
subject,  miTIhe  may  state  the  intellectual  advantages 
to  be  derT^d  from  discussing  such  a  theme.  The 
subject  may  be  the  doctrine  of  moral  evil,  or  that  of 
divine   sovereignty  ;    it    may  be  said  at  the   beginning, 


'  See  Baring  Gould's  "  Post-Mediseval  Preachers,"  pp.  45,  46,  47. 


A.V.-ILVS/S  AXD  COMPOSITION  OF  S£A'MOX.         343 

that  these  are  the  greatest  problems  of  the  human 
mind,  meeting  the  philosopher  as  well  as  the  theo- 
logian ;  that  they  have  called  forth  the  strength  of  the 
best  intellects  ;  that  no  problems  are  more  difficult, 
and  therefore  none  more  deserving  of  the  attention  of 
thoughtful  minds.  Ap^  He  may  state  the  connec- 
tions of  the  subject  with  other  more  practical  spiritual 
truths.  He  may  remove  the  prejudice  that  the  doctrine 
has  no  immediate  practical  bearing  or  utility,  even  as 
depravity,  for  instance,  or  the  doctrine  of  sin,  lies,  in  one 
sense,  at  the  base  of  the  whole  Christian  system  of  the 
atonement,  regeneration,  holiness,  and  the  Christian  life. 
\.c.)\  He  may  make  some  historical  allusions  naturally 
connected  with  the  theme,  which  always  forms  an  attrac- 
tive introduction,  ^cu)  He  may  make  it  appear,  at  the 
very  beginning,  that  the  subject  bears  upon  the  welfare 
of  all  his  hearers  ;  but  one  should  be  careful  not  to  use  -(- 
hackneyed  phrases  about  the  greatness  and  importance 
of  the  subject  in  hand,  and  should  shun  stereotyped  intro- 
ductions like  the  "  constat  inter  onincs"  of  the  old  scho- 
lastic preachers.  The  classic  orators,  it  is  true,  had  intro- 
ductions prepared  beforehand,  which  they  could  fit  to  any 
subject  ;  Cicero  recommends  this  ;  but  times  have 
changed,  and  the  duty  of  the  preacher,  above  all,  re- 
quires simple  earnestness  and  truth  in  all  parts  of  the  dis- 
course. He  should  so  treat  his  subject  from  the  start, 
that  his  hearers  will  be  impressed  with  the  importance 
of  it,  without  any  formal  asseveration  of  its  importance. 
//.j  He  may  make  general  and  modifying  suggestions 
in  the  introduction  ;  for  this  is  just  the  place  for 
these  incidental  remarks,  which  cannot  have  a  proper 
place  anywhere  else.  The  preacher,  looking  forward, 
fwishes  to  give  a  certain  turn  to  the  discourse,  or  to  draw 
forth  a  new  idea    or  lesson   from   the  text.     In  the  in- 


3+4  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

troduction  he  may  skillfully  prepare  the  way  for  this  ;  he 
may  make  the  groove,  which  he  will  widen  and  deepen 
for  the  sermon  to  run  in.  In  the  introduction,  also,  he 
may  set  aside,  in  a  few  words,  any  false  impressions 
which  a  certain  text,  or  the  foreshadowing  of  a  certain 
subject,  may  awaken  ;  here,  in  a  word,  he  is  still  free  ; 
he  has  not  yet  bound  himself  to  any  particular  line  of 
thought,  and  he  has  the  advantage  of  the  fresh  state  of 
mind  of  his  audience,  and  of  the  natural  curiosity  which 
is  awaked  at  the  first  words  of  a  discourse,  to  see  what  it 
may  be,  and  what  may  be  the  metal  of  the  speaker. 

The  qualities  of  a  good   introduction  may  be  resolved 
chiefly   into    four — simplicity,   modesty,    fit- 
Qualitiesofa  j^^gg^  ^^^  suggestiveness. 

introTction.  ;^i^)Simplicity.  The  first  moments  of  a 
discourse,  as  has  been  said,  are  often  the 
critical  moments,  and  success  or  failure  is  sometimes  con- 
tained in  them  ;  for,  one  may  see,  that  to  begin  a  sermon 
in  a  stilted  or  highly  artificial  manner,  is  to  insure  its 
condemnation  ;  but  as  an  ocean  steamer  puts  to  sea, 
when  she  is  fully  ready,  with  a  steady  motion,  so  a  ser- 
mon should  begin  without  display,  but  with  a  full  and 
firm  consciousness  of  power  to  reach  the  end  in  view. 

This  simplicity  in  the  introduction  may  be  violated, 
\a.\^y  \.oo  great  abstruseness.  There  may  be  an  in- 
teresting thought  in  the  introduction,  but  it  should  not 
be  so  difficult  and  deep  as  at  once  to  discourage  atten- 
tion ;  it  should  be  natural  rather  than  abstruse.  \^\  By 
too  earnest  argument.  One  should  not  plunge  atr^nce 
into  argument,  but  should  enter  more  cautiously  upon 
the  open,  agitated  sea  of  discussion.  {(i^By  too  im- 
passioned and  imaginative  language.  Aa/introduction 
should  generally  be  calm.  Coquerel  says  the  occasion 
is  extremely  rare  in  the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit,  for  an 


AXAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  345 

exordium  to  enter  ex  aln-upto  upon  a  theme.  If  the 
first  words  are  uttered  with  vehemence  the  orator  falls 
under  the  blow  of  Horace's  question  :  "  Quid  dignuni 
tanto  fcret  hie  prouiissor  hiatu  f" 

And  if  the  speaker  succeed  in  thus  commanding  atten- 
tion, it  is  very  difficult  to  keep  it  up  to  the  end.  The 
process  will  generally  be  the  reverse  of  what  it  ought  to 
be,  namely,  from  heat  to  cold,  from  an  artificial  earnest- 
ness and  excitement  to  apathy. 

It  is  better  to  rise  from  a  calm  beginning  addressed 
principally  to  the  good  sense  and  understanding  of  men 
to  the  height  of  true  feeling  and  conviction,  than  to  sink 
from  the  height  to  the  depth.  The  exordium  of  Mas- 
sillon's  funeral  discourse  on  Louis  XIV.,  "  My  brethren,  4. 
God  only  is  great,"  is  celebrated  and  is  remembered 
with  admiration,  while  the  discourse  is  forgotten.  There 
may  be  a  supposable  occasion  for  a  very  striking,  yes, 
startling  introduction,  yet  these  occasions  are  rare.  The 
Bible  is  our  teacher  here  ;  there  is  a  quiet  majesty  in 
its  utterances,  a  voice  of  simple  nature,  unadorned  truth 
and  calm  authority,  which  it  were  wise  to  imitate. 

It  is  not  well,  then,  to  be  brilliant  immediately,  and 
prose  is  better  than  poetry  to  start  with. 

One  may  sometimes  use  a  strong  and  homely  figure  to 
begin  with,  but  generally  anything  like  figurative  lan- 
guage is  in  bad  taste,  until  the  mind  is  warmed  up  to  it, 
and  it  glances  off  "  like  sparks  from  a  working  engine." 

Appeals  to  feeling  are,  as  a  general  rule,  altogether  out  of 
place  in  the  introduction  ;  for  what  begins  in  excited  feel- 
ing may  end  either  in  frenzy  or  in  the  depths  of  bathos. 
Bold  flights  of  fancy  and  sensational  language  at  first 
produce  dulness  at  last.  Cicero  recommends  an  ornate 
introduction,  in  order  to  raise  and  embellish  the  character 
of  what  succeeds  ;  but   that   is  doubtful   advice  for  the 


346  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

preacher  and  for  the  present  age.  The  simplicity  of  the 
introduction,  however,  should  be  rather  in  the  expression 
than  in  the  thought  ;  for  it  is  a  great  blunder  to  begin  a 
sermon  with  a  trite  truism,  as,  "  The  young  may  die,  and 
the  old  must,"  and  a  very  commonplace  beginniii^  gener- 
ally kills  the  sermon,  and  is  not  simplicity,  m.y  By  in- 
directness of  thought  or  style.  One  should  be  nat- 
ural and  easy  in  his  introduction.  All  elaborate  and 
circuitous  language  in  the  introduction,  ingenious  sen- 
tences and  painfully  wrought  antitheses,  are  out  of  place  ; 

Y  for,  generally,  a  direct  marching  up  to  a  subject  is 
best  ;  and  to  begin  too  far  off  may  lead  the  hearer's 
mind  to  such  a  distance  from  the  subject,  that  it  cannot 
be  brought  back  again  ;  but  a  simple  directness,  on  the 
other  hand,  wins  the  confidence  of  the  hearer.  To  con- 
ceal the  subject  of  the  sermon,  and  to  spring  it  by  surprise 
on  the  audience,  appeals,  after  all,  to  an  inferior  motive, 
and  seems  to  have  something  of  clap-trap  in  it.  The  in- 
terest should  come  from  the  subject,  and  from  one's 
power  and  earnestness  in  treating  it  :  this  is  the  beauty 
of  Robertson's  introductions,  upon  which  we  have  com- 
mented ;  they  combine  originality  and  clearness  of 
thought.  <^^By  being  too  long.  It  was  quaintly  said 
by  one  of  John  Howe's  hearers  that  "  he  was  so  long  lay- 

s  ing  the  cloth  that  his  hearers  despaired  of  the  dinner." 
There  is  no  rule  as  to  the  length  of  an  introduction,  but 
only  that  it  should  be  as  short  as  possible  without  injur- 
ing the  clearness  of  the  statement,  or  the  thought. 
Young  preachers  sometimes  use  up  their  best  thoughts  in 
the  introduction,  so  that  there  is  little  more  to  say. 

The  introduction  should  not  be  a  small  homily  in  itself. 
Palmer  says  that  an  introduction  should  never  at  longest 
occupy  more  than  an  eighth  of  a  sermon.  In  a  word,  an 
introduction,  almost  without  exception,  should  be  brief. 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         347 

Cut  down  introductions  mercilessly.  Hearers  like  to  have 
a  preacher  get  right  at  the  heart  of  his  subject  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  are  wearied  with  tediously  long  prefatory  re- 
marks ;  nor  does  divine  truth  lie  in  such  unfortunate  and 
obscure  circumstances  that  it  needs  protracted  effort  to 
bring  it  to  light,  or  to  introduce  it  to  the  human  mind. 
Biblical  truth  does  indeed  differ  from  scientific  truth  in 
this  respect,  that  it  is  familiar  and  open  to  all,  and  that 
it  is  outwardly  received  as  authority. 

Augustine's  introductions  are  brief,  simple,  and  beau- 
tiful. Theremin  is  particularly  opposed  to  long  intro- 
ductions ;  he  says,  "time  spent  in  merely  paving  the 
way  for  the  idea  (of  the  discourse)  might  better  be  em- 
ployed in  the  development  of  the  idea  itself."  He 
recommends  the  immediate  connection  of  the  idea  with 
some  one  of  those  plain  moral  or  religious  ideas  which  all 
understand  and  approve,  namely,  truth,  happiness,  or 
duty,  and  which  can   be  done   without  circumlocution.  . 

No  introduction  is  better  than  one  which  is  long  and  weari-  /^ 
some.  In  fact,  no  introduction  is  best  of  all,  if  none  is 
needed.  Interest  in  the  main  subject  is  wasted,  and  can- 
not be  easily  revived.  It  is  the  experience  of  preachers, 
which  is  itself  suggestive,  that  as  one  grows  older  he  is 
inclined  to  cut  off  several  pages  of  the  introductions 
of  his  earlier  written  sermons. 

2.  Modesty.  Self-conceit  in  the  introduction  is  fatal  ; 
and  true  modesty  is  ever  the  most  effectual  way  of  gain- 
ing the  good  will  of  an  audience. 

Allusions  to  one's  self  should  be  rare,  and,  if  made, 
should  be  made  with  genuine  delicacy  ;  for  any  want  of 
respect  in  the  speaker's  manner  toward  the  audience  is 
revenged,  often,  by  their  indignation  and  contempt. 
A  lofty  style,  to  begin  \vith,  offends  modesty  as  well  as 
simplicity  ;  any  exhibition    of  a  sense  of  superior  learn- 


348  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

ing,  wisdom,  or  thought  is  unfortunate  ;  and  no  modest 
man,  even  though  he  assume  the  office  of  teacher,  will 
have  such  a  feeling. 

In  Hobbes's  "  Brief  to  the  Art  of  Rhetoric,"  he  says, 
"  That  the  hearer  may  be  favorable  to  the  speaker,  two 
things  are  required  :  that  he  love  him  or  he  pity  him." 
Now  no  one  can  love  or  pity  a  conceited  man  ;  and  yet 
modesty  is  not  to  sink  into  feebleness  or  self-humiliation, 
though  the  ancient  orators  recommend  even  timidity  in 
the  introduction,  in  order  to  win  sympathy  ;  but  this,  of 
course,  could  not  be  recommended  to  a  Christian  preach- 
er ;  "  for  God  hath  not  given  us  the  spirit  of  fear,  but  of 
power,  of  love,  and  of  a  sound  mind."  Still,  one  Avho 
rises  to  speak  on  the  great  themes  of  the  gospel,  with  a 
due  sense  of  the  responsibility  of  souls  committed  to  his 
charge  and  guidance,  may  have  a  reasonable  fear  of  not 
being  equal  to  the  greatness  of  the  occasion. 

3.  Fitness.  By  this  is  meant  that  the  introduction 
should  be  in  keeping  and  harmony  with  the  sermon  ;  it 
should  spring  from  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  definite 
aim  one  has  in  view  in  the  sermon.  It  implies  adapta- 
tion, pertinence,  and  good   judgment. 

The  introduction  should  have  a  proportionate  and  sym- 
metrical relation,  also,  to  the  theme  ;  it  should  not  be 
invested  with  independent  proportions,  as  if  it  were  a  sub- 
ject of  its  own,  nor  should  it  have  the  infelicity  to  fore- 
stall the  argument  or  the  important  thoughts  of  the  ser- 
mon, so  that  the  interest  should  be  all  taken  up  in  the 
introduction  ;  it  should  be  confined  to  its  own  place  and 
work. 

4.  Suggestiveness.  The  fruitful,  suggestive,  and 
original  character  of  Robertson's  introductions  has  been 
dwelt  upon  ;  in  them  the  attention  of  the  audience 
is  immediately  fastened  upon  a  fresh   train   of   thought, 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  349 

though  simply  expressed  ;  the  door  is  thrown  open  to 
something  new  and  powerfully  attractive  ;  the  mind  is 
delighted  with  the  prospect  of  obtaining  new  ideas  on 
familiar  but  eternal  truth,  and  of  being  led  into  a  fresh 
field  of  instruction  ;  in  a  word,  he  succeeds  in  arousing 
interest,  which  is  the  great  thing  to  be  secured  in  an  in- 
troduction. 

Of  course  the  temptation  here  is  to  false  originality,- 
to  the  saying  of  striking  things  ;  and  some  preachers 
have  a  quaint  and  pungent  way  of  beginning  a  sermon, 
which  fastens  attention,  and  yet  borders  somewhat  too 
closely  on  wit  ;  and  it  is  very  easy  for  a  witty  minister  to 
be  too  witty.  He  should  try  to  make  his  wit  a  dif- 
fused element  of  life  in  the  discourse,  rather  than  to  con- 
dense it  into  a  sentence  which  strikes  too  smartly  upon- 
thc  sense  of  the  ridiculous  ;  and  even  that  which  is  pro- 
foundly original  may  be  simply  and  naturally  expressed. 
One  may,  indeed,  notice  in  some  of  our  best  New  Eng- 
land preachers,  past  and  present,  that  the  first  sentence 
of  their  discourse  is  often  a  very  weighty  one — a  sentence 
of  true  philosophical  profundity — though  it  is  so  well 
thought  through  that  it  is  expressed  in  a  plain  and  simple 
way.  The  first  sentence  is  thus  often  the  germ  of  the 
sermon  ;  and  it  is  often  recommended  that  the  first 
sentence  of  a  sermon  should  be  one  that  sets  people  to 
thinking  ;  but  this  profoundness  of  thought  at  starting  is 
a  hazardous  thing,  and  unless  well  done,  it  is  a  signal 
failure  ;  unless  the  thought  is  truly  profound,  and  at  the 
same  time  put  in  a  plain  and  practical  form,  it  eitherron- 
fuses  or  disgusts  an  audience,  so  that  simple  good  sense 
in  the  first  sentence  is,  generally  speaking,  the  safer 
course. 

The  following  may  be  given  as  one  example  of  a  beau- 
tiful  and   suggestive   introduction,  from   the   old  French 


350  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

preacher,  Michel  le  Faucheur,  on  the  text  in  Rom.  8  :  27, 
"  Noiis  Savons  que  toiites  cJioscs  aidcnt  ensemble  en  bien  a 
ceiix  qui  aiinent  Dieu. 

' '  Notre  texte  contient  fort  pcu  de  paroles,  mats  dont  le 
sens  est  nierveilleusement  fccond.  .  .  .  Tout  ainsi  que 
quand  Dieu,  a  la  priere  d'Elie,  voulut  ouvrir  le  eiel,  coinme 
a  sa  priere  il  V avait  ferine,  la  mice  que  ce  propJicte  vit  mon- 
trer  de  la  iner,  en  execution  de  cette  volenti!  favorable  de 
Dieu,  n  St  ait  pas  plus  grande  que  la  pauine  de  la  main  d'un 
homme,  mais  eepciidant  en  inoins  de  rien  clle  couvrit  le  del 
de  nuc'es  et  toutc  la  terre  de  pluie,  de  nieme  cette  sentotce, 
quoique  fort  brieve,  si  vous  la  me'dites  attentivement,  en 
moitis  d' line  heurc  vous  fcra  voir,  par  manicre,  tout  le  ciel 
rempli  des  merveilles  de  la  providence  de  Dieu  en  la  direc- 
tion et  en  la  conservation  de  tons  ceux  qui  V aiment,  et  vos 
antes  seront  arrosees  de  toutes  parts  des  consolations  de  sa 
grace. ' '  ' 

The  sources  of  introductions  are  varied.  To  speak  in  a 
general  way,  introductions  may  be  drawn  from  the  con- 
text, or  from  the  circumstances  of  the  time 

Sources  of    ^^  period  in  which  the  text  was  written,  or 
introductions.  .  . 

spoken.      In    fact  the   mtroduction,   11   not 

drawn  immediately  from  these,  should  at  all  events  not  be 
inharmonious  in  its  spirit  with  the  text  itself.  If  after 
reading  for  our  text  an  affecting  narrative  we  begin  to 
preach  in  a  coldly  moralizing  way,  we  do  in  this  way 
**  rudely  cut  the  nerve  of  harmony  that  connects  the  scrip- 
tural narrative  with  the  hearts  of  our  hearers." 

But  to  speak  more  definitely,  the  sources  of  introduc- 
tions, although  greatly  varied,  may  yet  all  be  classified  or 
brought  under  four  different  heads  : 
y  I.  The  circumstances  of  the  text.  The  time,  place,  and 

'  Vinet's  "  Histoire  de  la  Predication,"  etc.,  p.  107. 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         351 

occasion  of  the  text  may  be  given  and  described  ;  as  the 
scenic  surroundings  of  Paul  preaching  on  the  Areopagus, 
or  the  description  of  Athens,  of  Corinth,  of  Ephesus,  of 
Rome,  as  forming  attractive  prefaces  to  many  a  text  of 
the  Acts  and  the  Epistles.  The  historical  period  and 
the  exact  historical  circumstances  of  the  text,  and  also  its 
local  and  philological  relations,  are  always  admissible  : 
indeed,  Theremin  lays  down  the  rule  that  the  introduc- 
tion, in  some  way  or  shape,  should  invariably  be  drawn 
from  the  context — certainly  too  rigid  a  requisition. 

2.  The    relations   and    circumstances    of   the   subject.  l\y^ 
These  are  explanatory  observations,  prefatory  and  gen- 
eral remarks  ;  or,  it  may  be,  a  single   word   in   the  text 
taken   and  discussed   for  a  moment  ;  and  thus  the  way 

is  prepared  for  the  real  subject,  e.g.,  "  Holiness,  with- 
out which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord."  Here  one 
may  begin  to  remark  upon  the  main  word  "holiness," 
upon  its  real  meaning,  its  true  evangelical  import,  and 
this  will  lead  on  gradually  to  the  subject  which  shall 
comprehend  the  whole  text  of  which  "holiness"  forms 
the  essence. 

3.  General  truth,  or  truths  preparatory  to  the  subject.     /^•^ 
This  method  of  generalizing  to  begin  with  may,  indeed, 

be  carried  to  excess,  and  may  lead  the  mind  away  from 
the  definite  subject  in  hand  ;  and  it  is  therefore  better  .to 
begin  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  thing  itself,  and  not  to 
indulge  in  introductory  platitudes,  as  is  often  done  in  the 
introductions  of  Blair.  It  is  well  to  take  some  specific 
truth  or  fact  leading  up  to  the  subject,  some  fit  compari- 
son or  similitude,  some  historical  fact  or  proverb,  or  some 
striking  quotation  ;  and  sometimes  an  imaginary  case 
may  be  supposed  :  as  Massillon's  commencing  one  of 
his  sermons  with  the  idea  of  a  trial  or  court-scene 
going  on. 


352  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

4.  Circumstances  of  speaker  and  audience.  This  re- 
quires great  tact,  of  which  Cicero's  "  Pro  Milone"  and 
"  In  Catilinam"  are  fine  examples. 

Topics  of  introductions  should  be  taken  generally  from 
things  rather  than  persons,  though  historical  examples, 
even  if  they  are  taken  from  secular  history,  are  sometimes 
fitted  to  arouse  attention,  and  they  form  happy  introduc- 
tions.' 

Introductions  are  sometimes  called  "  the  crosses  of 
preachers,"  because  beginnings  are  difficult  ;  but  no 
introduction  is  better  than  a  bad  one  ;  and  sometimes 
it  is  best  to  plunge  at  once  into  deep  waters.  In  fact,  an 
informal  introduction,  which  is  simply  commencing  at 
once,  is  better  than  a  formal  one. 

As  to  the  time  of  writing  the  introduction,  every  one 
is  his  own  best  judge  :  perhaps  it  should  not  be  the  first 
or  the  last  thing  written  ;  but  it  should  be  done  when  the 
mind  is  fully  possessed  of  the  subject,  and  when  one  can- 
.V  not  help  saying  just  what  he  does,  in  order  to  lay  the 
theme  fitly  before  the  audience.  "  As  the  introduction 
is  only  a  subsidiary  and  a  preparatory  part  of  a  discourse, 
the  topics  which  it  must  embrace,  and  the  form  in  which 
it  should  appear,  cannot  be  fully  known  until  the  nature 
and  form  of  the  proposition  and  of  the  discussion  are 
well  ascertained  by  the  speaker.  Hence  the  proper  time 
for  the  invention  and  composition  of  the  introduction  is 
after  the  subject  has  been  thoroughly  studied,  and  the 
general  form  of  the  discussion  well  settled  in  the  mind."  " 
This  is  also  Quintilian's  advice,  who  is  especially  full  and 
excellent  on  the  subject  of  the  "  exordium,"  proving 
that  little  can  be  added  to  what  the  ancients  have  said 


'  See  Day's  "  Rhetoric,"  p.  48.      A   series  of  hints  as  to  the  sources 
of  exordiums,  or  introductions,  is  given  in  Vinet's  "  Homiletics,"  p.  302. 
*  Day's  "Rhetoric,"  p.  48. 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITIOX  OF  SERMOX 


)53 


upon  oratory.'  Vinct  says,  "There  is  aUvays  an  exor- 
dium which  is  better  than  any  other,  and  it  is  that  on 
which  the  true  orator  ordinarily  falls  ;"  therefore  it  is 
well  for  the  preacher  to  have  before  his  mind,  or  to  set 
before  his  mind,  precisely  what  end  he  has  in  view,  and 
what  he  is  conscious  he  is  able  to  do  to  attain  that  end  ; 
and  this  will  guide  him  to  say  the  right  thing  to  begin 
with,  for  the  introduction  should  ever  have  an  eye  to  the 
end. 

Sec.    15.    The  Explanation. 

The  explanation  {Die  Erkldriing)  of  a  sermon  embraces 
all  that  is  required  for  the  purpose  of  elucidating  the  exact 
meaning  and  force  of  the  text,  and  of  thus  ^^^^  .^  ^^^ 
obtaining  from  it  the  true  subject  of  thedis-    ^^^•^^^^^^^^^ 
course.     It  refers  exclusively  to  the  text.    - 

Vinet  says  that  "the  explanation  is  purely  defi- 
nition, and  not  judgment."  It  is  the  defining  of  the 
actual  terms  and  contents  of  the  text,  so  that  its  true 
theme  may  be  distinctly  presented  to  the  mind.  It  not 
only  embraces  the  etymological  definition  of  the  text,  or 
that  of  its  verbal  terms,  but,  above  all,  its  rational  defi- 
nition, or  that  of  its  complete  object  of  thought  ;  it  is.  y. 
in  fact,  bringing  out  in  its  wholeness  the  full  and  entire 
meaning  which  the  text  is  intended  to  convey. 

An  "expository"  sermon  may  be  said  to  be  wholly 
taken  up  with  the  explanation  ;  but  in  every  ordinary 
sermon,  with  few  exceptions,  the  explanation  has  its  dis- 
tinct place,  and  is  applied  to  the  precise  matter  of  defin- 
ing the  text,  so  that  its  true  subject  may  be  presented. 
It  does  nothing  more  than  this  ;  it  may  suggest,  but  it 
does  not  formally  state  the  subject  ;  it  leads  the  way  to 

'  "  Instit."  B.  iii.,  c.  9.  s.  S. 


354  HO  MILE  TICS    PROPER. 

the  proposition  and  argument,  but  it  is  clearly  distin- 
guished from  them. 

''  A  sermon,  according  to  Vinet,  really  consists  of  but 
two  parts — the  explanation  and  the  proof  ;  but  we  prefer 
to  limit  the  use  of  the  explanation  to  the  simple  object 
of  defining  what  the  text  means. 

As  to  the  extent  of  the  explanation.  The  explanation, 
to  speak  in  more  general  terms,  comprehends  narrative, 

description,  or  picturing  historical  discussion 
Extent  of  the  ^^  ^j^^  outer  circumstances  of  the  text,  com- 
explanation.    ,  .       ,      .  ,         ,         .  ... 

bmed  with  a  drawmg  out  ot  the   mner  sense 

of  the  passage,  its  real  life,  contents,  and  aim  ;  not  so 
much  for  the  purpose  of  one's  own  instruction  and  satis- 
faction as  for  the  instruction  and  building  up  of  the  peo- 
ple (the  Church  of  Christ)  in  the  faith.  The  people  have 
knowledge  and  understanding  in  respect  of  divine  truth  ; 
but  preaching  is  to  increase,  perfect,  rectify,  and  direct 
that  knowledge.  The  preacher  is  to  give  a  productive 
and  practical  aim  to  his  explanations  and  instructions,  so 
that  the  people  may  see  how  the  truth  applies  to  them. 

The  explanation,  therefore,  should  not  be  scientific 
wholly,  but  practical  and  edifying.  The  preacher's 
conscience  and  responsibility  are  often  greatly  tried  in 
endeavoring  to  give  the  real  explanation  of  a  passage,  in 
opposition  perhaps  to  traditional  renderings,  and  to  his 
own  preconceived  ideas.  Hs  is  never  to  set  an  erroneous 
rendering  in  the  place  of  a  true  one  for  the  sake  of 
effect  or  impression,  for  this  is  a  pious  fraud.  Still,  a 
young  preacher  especially  should  not  be  too  forward,  or 
rash,  in  this  rectifying  process.  The  explanation  instead 
of  being  a  dry  ought  to  be  a  quickening  influence.  Ex- 
planation deals  in  words,  it  is  true,  but  chiefly  in  things 
{sack  crkldningoi).  It  goes  to  the  true  teaching  of  the 
word,  the  substantial  or  spiritual  truth,  the  real  thought 


I 


A.VAI.YS/S  AND  COMPOSITIOX  OF  SERMON.  355 

of  God,  the  divine  fact  involved,  that  which  "  is  nutri- 
tive, edifying,  sanctifying,"  ' 

But  to  look  more  particularly  at  the  extent  of  the  ex- 
planation, we  would  say  that  it  includes  both  the  fact  and 
the  sentiment  of  the  text,  in  other  words  it  has  to  do 
principally  with  the  narrative  and  the  exposition. 

I.  The  narrative.  This  is  the  investigation  and  set- 
ting forth  of  the  more  purely  objective  truth  of  the  pas- 
sage in  its  relations  to  time,  place,  and  cir- 

cumstance.     It   is  viewing  the  text   in  the 

narrative, 
concrete.       It    is    the   consideration    of  the 

why,  how,  and  what  of  the  passage,  especially  in  relation 
to  the  time  in  which  it  originated.  Great  skill  may  be 
used  here  inaccurately  developing,  in  their  order  of  time, 
all  the  important  and  perhaps  hidden  facts  involved  in 
the  text  ;  in  taking  it  apart,  and  showing  the  true  order 
and  harmonious  relations  of  the  parts  to  one  another  and 
to  the  whole.  Where  the  text  is  a  very  easy  and  familiar 
one,  all  the  explanation  that  is  needed  may  be  included 
in  a  few  words  of  the  introduction  ;  but,  generally  speak-  y 
ing,  some  discussion  is  required  to  set  forth  the  facts  of 
the  text  clearly  and  distinctly,  even  without  developing 
any  new  truth  from  it,  or  proving  anything  in  particular 
by  it.  A  lawyer  usually  makes  the  explanatory  narrative 
the  most  important  and  telling  part  of  his  address  or 
plea  ;  he  shows  his  consummate  skill  in  collating  facts,  in 
explaining  circumstances  and  events,  so  as  to  bear  upon 
any  particular  point  or  principle  that  he  desires  to  estab- 
lish ;  thus  Cicero's  oration  for  Milo  has  its  chief  strength 
in  the  exquisite  skill  of  the  narrative.^ 

This  is  also  the  place  for  description,  especially  histori- 
cal description,   although   that    refers,    strictly,    to   place 


'  See  Otto's  "  Praktische  Theologie,"  v.  i.,  p.  31S, 


3S6  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

rather  than  to  time.  Geographical,  historical,  and  pic- 
torial descriptions  in  a  sermon  should  be  brief,  truthful, 
and  vivid,  and  not  highly  wrought  or  poetical.  The  im- 
agination may  be  indulged,  but  it  should  be  remembered 
X  that  a  sermon  is  prose,  not  poetry.  yWhen  the  materials 
for  description  are  ample,  they  should  not  be  so  largely 
drawn  upon  as  to  make  it  apparent  that  the  sermon  was 
written  in  order  to  give  the  preacher  an  opportunity  to 
discuss  the  topography  of  Jerusalem  or  Athens,  or  to 
paint  a  glowing  picture  of  a  sacred  scene,  in  order  to  dis- 
play his  fancy  and  learning  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  every- 
thing which  tends  to  vivify  divine  truth,  and  draw  atten- 
tion to  it,  and  make  it  fresh  and  forcible,  is  perfectly 
justifiable.  Whately  says,  "  Let  not  your  sermons  be 
avowedly  hortatory,  nor  begin  with  exhortation  ;  let  your 
^  apparent  object  be  explanation,  ylgnorance  is  not  the 
greatest,  but  it  is  the  first  evil  to  be  removed  ;  it  is  also 
the  one  most  in  your  power  to  remove,  and  it  is  one  which 
people  will  not  be,  in  the  outset,  so  much  disgusted  to  be 
told  of.  VAnd  do  not  think  anything  irrelevant,  however 
remote  it  may  seem  from  Christian  practice,  that  tends  to 
interest  them  in  Scripture  studies  and  religious  topics."  ' 
2.  The  exposition.  This  is,  by  all  means,  the  princi- 
pal part  of  the  explanation.  It  regards  the  text  in  the 
abstract  rather  than  in  the  concrete  ;  and  it 

is  more  strictly  the  definition  of  the   precise 
exposition.  '■ 

terms  and  contents  or  the  text.     It  does  not 

concern  itself  about  the  text,  so  much  as  it  does  with  the 

very  words  and  substance  of  the  text.      It  comprehends, 

first  of  all,  a   correct  verbal  definition   of  the   passage,  a 

literal  explanation  of    the  terms  of  the  text — simple,  it 

may  be,  in   its   results,  yet  one  that  demands  thorough 


Life  of  Richard  Whately,"  v.  i.  p.  210. 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  357 

study  and  scholarship  ;  and,  in  addition  to  this,  and 
above  all,  it  includes  an  honest  effort  to  arrive  at  the  in-  - 
ternal  meaning  of  the  passage.  It  is  viewing  the  text 
more  subjectively.  It  is  looking  at  it,  or  rather  into  it,  y 
as  taken  out  of  its  relations  to  time,  place,  and  circum- 
stance. It  is  endeavoring  to  come  at  the  absolute  truth, 
or  the  general  principle  involved  in  the  text.  This  is  the 
most  important  idea  of  the  text,  because  the  outward 
facts  and  circumstances  of  the  text  are  comprehended  in 
this  inner  meaning.  This  definition  of  the  idea  contained 
in  an  important  passage  of  divine  truth  is  often  the  most 
difficult  and  taxing  part  of  the  whole  sermon  ;  for  noth- 
ing is  more  difificult  than  definition,  especially  the  defini- 
tion of  ideas.  It  is  the  complete  separation  of  the  idea 
from  all  other  ideas  and  objects  of  thought.  It  is  look- 
ing at  it  as  a  whole,  so  that  the  proposition  follows  this 
mastery  of  the  true  idea,  or  the  essential  meaning  of  the 
text,  as  a  matter  of  course. 

There  may  exist  doubt  as  to  the  true  meaning  of  a 
text,  and  several  meanings  may  be  claimed  by  the  best 
scholars  and  thinkers  ;  here  patient  and  honest  thought 
is  required.  There  may  be,  also,  wholly  different  ideas, 
and  classes  of  ideas,  drawn  from  the  same  passage  ;  and 
there  may  be,  further  still,  various  shades  of  ideas  com- 
prehended in  it  :  in  the  explanation,  therefore,  it  is 
necessary  not  only  to  get  at  the  best  exposition  of  the 
true  principle  contained  in  the  text,  but  to  have  a  clear 
and  independent  idea  of  our  own  concerning  it  ;  to  come 
ourselves  to  a  distinct  and  original  conception  of  the 
,^  truth  taught  in  the  text,  v  This  view  should  be  clearly 
defined,  and  should  be  the  result  of  accurate  investigation 
with  all  the  helps  of  scholarship  ;  and  then  what  follows 
in  the  other  portions  of  the  sermon  will  have  good 
foundations  to  rest  upon. 


35^  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

There  are  some  classes  of  texts  which  particularly  de- 
mand explanation.     Almost  every  text,  being  in  a  dead 
language,  requires  some  brief  explanation  ; 
Texts  that    |-,,^,^-  those  which  absolutely  demand  it  may 

J     be  chiefly  divided  into  three  classes  : 
demand  _ 

explanation.  ^-  Typical  and  figurative  texts.  These  all 
contain  some  true  meaning,  and  that  true 
meaning,  or  literal  truth,  conveyed  by  them,  is  to  be 
set  forth,  e.g.,  Ps.  84:  ii,  "For  the  Lord  is  a  sun 
and  shield  ;  the  Lord  will  give  grace  and  glory  ; 
no  good  thing  will  he  withhold  from  them  that  walk 
uprightly."  Here  are  two  distinct  ideas  of  the  na- 
ture of  God  metaphorically  inwoven  (it  would  seem) 
through  the  whole  verse.  God  is  not  only  a  sun — the 
source  of  light  and  truth — but  a  shield — the  source  of 
strength,  protection,  daily  providential  oversight  ;  he  is 
the  giver  both  of  glory  and  grace  ;  he  is  so  as  regards  the 
whole  of  our  life,  external  and  internal. 

Take  even  such  a  familiar  text  as  the  words  of  our 
Lord  in  John  4  :  10,  its  very  profoundness  lies  in  its  sim- 
plicity. It  requires  thought  to  explain  clearly  what  is 
meant  by  Christ's  giving  living  water  and  to  bring  out 
the  points  of  resemblance  between  living  truth  and  living 
water  ;  or  how  they  both  equally  may  be  called  life-giv- 
ing. There  are  many  passages  which  contain  events  that 
are  figurative,  as  well  as  texts  whose  words  are  simply 
figurative,  such  as  the  symbolic  acts  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment prophets,  and  our  Saviour's  washing  the  feet  of  his 
disciples,  and  his  driving  out  the  money-changers  from 
the  temple,  some  of  which  actions  are  capable  of  wrong 
constructions.  Then  there  are  the  parables  that  require 
study  and  thought  to  explain  in  an  edifying  way. 

2.  Texts  whose  meaning  is  complicated  and  open  to 
controversy. 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         359 

3.  Texts  of  deep  and  pregnant  meaning,  not  at  once 
obvious,  but  connected,  it  may  be,  with  some  previous 
truth,  argument,  or  fact.  Especially  under  this  head 
are  to  be  classed  texts  of  profound  spiritual,  meaning. 

The  materials  or  sources  of  the  explanation  are  mani- 
fold. 

I.   Philological  analysis.     The    first  thing     Materials 
°  •  1    c    •     *""  sources  of 

to   be    sought    in    explanation,    is  a   defini-  g^^pianation. 

tion  of  the  very  terms  of  the  text,  the 
coming  at  its  literal  meaning.  This  embraces  a  close 
and  accurate  verbal  exegesis  of  the  passage,  and  the 
different  modes  of  stating  and  explaining  the  text, 
or  the  different  views  which  may  be  and  have  been 
taken  of  it,  as  well  as  the  refutation  of  false  modes 
of  interpreting  the  text,  those,  perchance,  which  are 
in  common  use.  One  may  thus  judiciously  present 
the  more  correct  translation  of  a  text  :  e.g.,  Rom. 
12:1,  "That  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice, 
holy,  acceptable  unto  God,  which  is  your  reasonable  ser- 
vice" {t^W  ^oyixfjy  Xarpelav)  ;  the  closer  meaning  of 
Xoyixyy  here,  as  is  the  sense  in  other  passages,  in  John 
4:23,  Rom.  7:25,  is  "spiritual,"  pertaining  to  the 
spiritual,  or  to  the  soul's  life  ;  or  the  passage  in  Phil, 
3  :  20,  "  Our  conversation  is  in  heaven,"  where  the  word 
TioXitevfxay  rendered  "  conv^ersation,"  is,  more  strictly 
and  nobly,  "  citizenship."  The  drawing  out  and  binding 
together  of  a  complicated  parable,  like  that  of  the  unjust 
steward,  which  requires  the  strict  defining  of  terms  and 
their  connections,  as  well  as  the  elucidation  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  whole,  and  the  explanation  of  such  a  weighty, 
profound  passage  as  i  Tim.  3  :  16,  are  familiar  examples 
of  the  absolute  need  of  accurate  scholarly  analysis.  Most 
of  the  passages  which  we  may  take  from  the  Pauline 
epistles  need  something  of  this  scientific  criticism  ex- 


3^0  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

pended  upon  them.  But,  as  Coquerel  says,  the  preacher 
should  come  out  of  the  atmosphere  of  the  school  into  a 
higher  atmosphere  of  sacred  criticism,  where  there  is  a 
simple  and  earnest  desire  to  arrive  at  divine  truth.  In 
fine,  the  critical  scholarship  and  pure  learning  required 
in  the  sermon  thus  generally  come  in  the  explanation  ; 
there  they  find  a  true  place,  though  even  there  they 
should  not  be  obtruded,  and-  should  manifest  results 
rather  than  processes. 

2.  Examination  of  the  relative  position  of  the  text,  or 
the  study  of  what  is  called  the  "  context."  This,  in 
another  connection,  we  have  before  remarked  upon  ; 
we  refer  to  it  now  as  having  relation  to  the  true  ren- 
dering of  the  passage.  The  detaching  of  texts  from 
their  context  has  been  a  source  of  mischief  in  preaching 
as  great  as,  at  the  beginning  of  the  recent  war,  the  too 
great  separation  of  our  smaller  military  divisions  from 
the  main  body  was  to  the  success  of  our  arms.  The 
words  of  our  Lord,  as  they  are  of  special  weight,  should 
not  be  isolated,  but  should  be  carefully  interpreted  as 
they  stand  in  connection  with  all  their  circumstances  of 
time,  place,  and  occasion. 

3.  Comparison  with  parallel  passages  and  with  the 
main  scope  of  Scripture.  This  fills  up  cavities,  enriches 
the  meaning,  clears  obscurities,  and  modifies  and  defines 
the  limits  of  the  truth  taught  by  the  particular  passage. 

4.  Development  of  historical  facts.  The  preacher 
ought  not  to  presume  too  much  on  the  intelligence  of  his 
congregation  in  this  respect — that  they  are  all  well  in- 
formed even  on  the  most  familiar  historical  points  ;  but 
he  should  bring  to  bear  the  animating  influence  of  a  rich 
and  wide  historical  knowledge.  This  is  a  great  source 
of  interest.  The  most  minute  historical  allusion  often 
throws  sudden  light  upon  the  text.    John  7  :  37,  "In  the 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SEHMON.         3^1 

last  day,  that  great  day  of  the  feast,  Jesus  stood  and 
cried,  saying,  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me 
and  drink."  This  was  uttered  upon  the  very  day  on 
which  the  priests  employed  the  symbol  of  water  in  the 
temple,  and  in  many  ways  made  this  water-symbolism 
strikingly  prominent.  As  another  instance,  Matthew, 
who  relates  to  us  Christ's  gracious  words  addressed  to 
publicans  and  sinners,  was  himself  a  publican.  In  the 
parable  of  the  wedding  garment,  there  is  some  reason  to 
think  that  the  key  of  the  story  lies  in  the  Eastern  custom 
of  the  guests  accepting  as  a  free  gift  the  wedding  robe 
from  the  host  and  not  himself  bringing  the  robe  to  the 
feast.  Such  an  historical  fact  as  the  military  Roman  law 
which  required  the  use  of  any  man  or  beast  along  the 
road  illustrates  the  sentence,  "  If  any  man  compel  thee 
to  go  a  mile,  go  with  him  twain."  The  closing  of  the 
gate  in  Oriental  cities,  even  to  this  day,  at  an  early 
hour  in  the  evening,  gives  force  to  the  Saviour's  words, 
"  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate  ;  for  many,  I  say 
unto  you,  shall  seek  to  enter  in,  but  shall  not  be  able." 

5.  Scientific  illustration.  The  preacher  should  lay  his 
hand  on  this  boldly  ;  and  he  may  thus,  in  an  eminently 
scientific  age  like  the  present,  win  new  interest  for  religious 
truth,  which  is  unscientific  and  undefined.  What  is  called 
the  modern  science  of  "  Egyptology,"  and  it  might  also 
be  now  added  the  science  of  "  Assyriology,"  founded  upon 
the  inductive  process,  has  totally  demolished  the  triumph 
of  false  science — in  regard  to  a  large  portion  of  biblical 
antiquities — so  destructive  of  the  authenticity  of  the 
Scriptures. 

In  like  manner  geological  science  is  a  splendid  con- 
tribution to  theology,  as  to  the  main  truth  of  the  unity 
of  the  cosmical  plan  of  creation. 

Astronomy,    the   star-eyed  science,    seems    peculiarly 


36-2  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

allied  to  celestial  truth,  not  only  in  a  figurative  sense, 
but  analogically,  as  setting  forth  the  unchangeable  and 
orderly  character  of  God's  physical  laws. 

Chemistry,  too,  opens  fine  illustrations  of  revealed 
truths  ;  and  of  the  correlation  of  forces,  not  brought 
about  by  mere  laws  of  matter  but  by  an  intelligent  cause 
beyond  the  phenomenal,  and  absolutely  controlling 
changes. 

Scientific  investigations  upon  the  subject  of  the  origin 
of  man  and  the  law  of  evolution  in  creation  may  also, 
stated  in  their  just  limitations,  throw  light  on  spiritual 
truth,  and  lay  bare  another  of  the  grand  and  simple  laws 
of  God's  working. 

Science,  as  well  as  art,  and  all  the  arts,  will  become 
more  and  more  the  auxiliary  to  the  interpretation  of 
divine  truth.  Chrysostom,  Luther,  Chalmers,  Arnold,  and 
even  John  Wesley,  were  not  afraid  of  learning  and  sci- 
ence, considering  that  the  principles  of  the  natural  and 
spiritual  worlds  emanate  from  the  same  mind,  although 
revelation  will  never  be  squared  to  science  ;  and  we  may 
look  in  vain  for  this,  for  the  Bible  is  not,  and  never  can 
be  made,  a  scientific  book.  But  there  is  one  field  where 
a  little  scientific  knowledge  is  all-important  to  the  preach- 
er ;  and  that  is,  in  the  geography  of  biblical  lands  :  he 
should  know  the  difference  between  Antioch  in  Syria  and 
Antioch  in  Pisidia,  and  what  was  meant  by  the  "Asia" 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  the  history  and  derivation  of 
the  "  Galatians"  of  Asia  Minor,  and  such  geographical 
and  historical  facts  as  clear  up  difficulties  in  biblical  inter- 
pretation. 

6.  Application  of  the  laws  of  common  sense.  Every- 
thing must  be  brought  to  that.  Great  scholars  some- 
times lose  their  common  sense  ;  and  the  use  of  the 
homely  and   independent  principle  of  common  sense  will 


AiVAL  YS/S  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMOX.         363 

do  away  with  many  perverse  and  fanciful  interpretations 
of  Scripture  which  have  been  sustained  by  learning  falsely 
applied. 

7.  The  setting  forth  of  the  animus  of  the  writer.  This 
would  influence  the  meaning  of  much  that  was  written  by 
John  and  James,  and  Peter  and  Paul  ;  and  while  the  marked 
differences  of  the  Pauline,  Petrine,  and  Johannean 
manifestations  of  divine  truth  are  presented  to  us  in  a  for- 
cible manner  in  such  a  work,  for  example,  as  Neander's 
' '  Planting  and  Training, ' '  and  in  other  good  works  on  bib- 
lical theology,  the  careful  study  of  the  inspired  writings 
themselves  is  better  still.  Inspiration  admits  the  human 
element,  and  takes  form  from  the  peculiarities  of  individual 
mind  and  character  ;  and,  indeed,  we  have  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  human  idiosyncrasies  were  taken  advantage  of 
by  the  Spirit  for  the  development  of  particular  truths. 
Paul's  mind,  experience,  and  culture  wonderfully  fitted 
him  for  the  expression  and  inculcation  of  the  liberal  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  which  embrace  the  human  race, 
and  the  universal  application  of  the  moral  principles  of 
redemption. 

The  peculiar  condition  of  the  author's  mind  at  the  time 
of  writing  or  speaking  is  also  important  as  affecting  his 
meaning.  Our  Lord  himself,  when  he  was  in  the  hum- 
blest and  obscurest  circumstances,  spoke  the  words,  "  I 
am  the  light  of  the  world."  When  Paul  was  in  the 
gloomy  depths  of  the  Mamertine  prison  he  exhorted 
men  to  glory  in  the  cross  of  Christ. 

One  expression,  also,  of  a  scriptural  writer  may  be  set 
over  against  another  expression  of  the  same  writer, 
uttered  in  entirely  different  circumstances  and  states  of 
mind  ;  thus  the  character  and  history  of  David  abound 
in  striking  contrasts  ;  cross  lights  are  strong  lights. 

Above  all,  as  the  Scriptures  are  an  inspired  book,  the 


3^4  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

great  aim  of  the  expositor  should  be  to   come  at  "  the 
mind  of  the  Spirit,"  of  the  real  author  of  revelation. 

8.  By  setting  forth  the  animus  and  spirit  of  the  age  in 
which  the  text  was  written.  The  celestial  utterances  of 
the  "  Sermon  on  the  Mount,"  and  the  broad  precepts  of 
Christianity  in  the  Epistles,  may  be  contrasted  with  the 
narrow  Jewish  theology,  the  clashing  Greek  philosophies, 
and  the  imperious  and  ferocious  ideas  of  the  best  Roman 
civilization  of  the  time, 

9.  By  showing  the  character  and  condition  of  the  per- 
sons addressed.  "  Feed  my  sheep"  would  not,  in  all 
probability,  have  been  addressed  to  the  loving  apostle 
John,  but  rather  to  the  ambitious,  impetuous,  forth-put- 
ting Peter.  In  like  manner  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians 
was  written  to  a  kind  of  people  very  different  from  that  to 
which  the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  was  written. 

10.  By  showing  the  particular  object  for  which  the  pas- 
sage was  spoken  or  written.  "  Sell  all  that  thou  hast" 
was  not  spoken  to  a  poor  man,  but  was  addressed  to  the  pe- 
culiar form  of  selfishness  in  which  a  wealthy  young  man's 
impenitence  was  garnered  up.  Our  Lord's  parables  were 
intended  to  arouse  thought,  and  to  sow  truth  in  the 
hearts  of  a  people  where  the  direct  word  of  truth  would 
have  been  treated  with  contempt,  would  have  been  tram- 
pled under  foot.  The  Oriental  indirectness  of  Scripture, 
not  the  less  powerful  because  not  at  once  perceived,  is 
often  a  beautiful  feature,  which  should  be  studied  in  some- 
thing of  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  love  in  which  it  was 
originally  uttered  or  written. 

11.  By  bringing  forth  the  hidden  tone  and  qualities  of 
the  text.  That  is,  by  listening  to  it  not  so  much  with 
the  ear  of  the  mind  as  with  the  ear  of  the  heart,  and 
catching  its  true  spirit.  Even  its  rhetorical  qualities  of 
naturalness,  beauty,  and  force  are  not  to  be  neglected  ; 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         365 

but  by  long  meditation,  and,  above  all,  by  prayer,  one 
should  strive  to  penetrate  into  the  inmost  soul  of  a 
passage,  till  its  full  original  tone  comes  out.  One  should 
look  into  his  own  soul,  and  see  how  a  text  responds  to 
his  own  spirit,  since  the  study  of  the  laws  of  the  soul 
now  will  give  one  a  key  to  unlock  spiritual  truth  spoken 
ages  ago,  for  the  human  heart  is  the  same,  and  God  is 
the  same.  The  study  of  the  laws  of  the  divine  mind  will 
alone  enable  one  to  penetrate  into  the  hidden  meaning  of 
the  divine  word  ;  the  spirit  only  comprehends  the  mind 
of  the  Spirit.  "  The  natural  man  discerneth  not  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  for  they  are  spiritually  dis- 
cerned." 

As  to  the  qualities  of  the  explanation,  it  should  be — 

1.  True.     It  should  develop  the  true  meaning  of  the 

text,  neither  more  nor  less — not  the  meaning  which  this 

one  or  that  one  would  give  it,  or  which  we 

ourselves,  perhaps,    would  desire  to  give  it.      ^"*  '  '^* 
TT  •        1  1  •  1  Ti  of  the 

Honesty  m   the  explanation  strengthens  all  exolanation 

other  parts  of  the  discourse.  One  may 
strive  for  the  greatest  vividness  of  impression  in  bring- 
ing out  the  full  idea  of  the  passage  ;  but  when  he 
goes  beyond  the  truth  taught,  then  it  is  an  unworthy 
means  of  impression,  which  will  react  disastrously.  It 
is  even  better  to  understate  than  to  overstate  the 
truth. 

In  regard  to  exegetical  explanations  generally,  K.  R, 
Hagenbach  says  :  "  Practical  exegesis  must  be  the  result 
of  scientific  exegesis,  and  a  conscientious  preacher  will 
offer  to  the  people  no  exposition  which  cannot  be  scien- 
tifically justified." 

2.  Perspicuous.  The  explanation  is  not  the  place  for 
discursiveness  ;  there  all  should  be  exact  and  concise, 
clear  and  convincing.     That  is  laying  foundations.     Defi- 


366  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

nition  should  be  neat,  proper,  and  finished  work,'  One 
should  avoid  learned  terms,  and  should  produce  the 
results  rather  than  the  terms  of  philological  exegesis.  In 
the  evolution  of  long  passages  it  is  particularly  essential 
to  avoid  obscurity  ;  and  it  is  well  to  seize  upon  the  main 
idea  of  the  passage,  and  make  that  stand  out  clearly, 
while  the  subordinate  parts  are  grouped  around  it, 

3,  Brief.  Jonathan  Edwards  is  said,  by  good  judges 
of  his  sermonizing,  to  have  spent  too  much  time  in 
exposition,  thus  sometimes  even  confusing  the  true  sense 
of  the  passage.  Modern  learning  should  expedite  ex- 
planation. But  sometimes  it  is  not  possible  to  make 
the  explanation  brief,  for  the  whole  sermon  may  de- 
pend upon,  and,  in  fact,  consist  of,  the  evolving  of 
a  particular  and  perhaps  recondite  meaning  of  the  text. 
Brevity  is  violated,  {a.^  By  explaining  things  which  need 
no  explanation  ;  a  sermon  is  often  rendered  insuf- 
ferably tedious  in  this  way  ;  ib.')  By  seeking  to  explain 
simple  ideas,  or  absolute  truths,  which  cannot  be  ana- 
lyzed, such  as  "  God,"  "  love,"  "  life,"  "  spirit  ;"  (^,) 
By  making  side  issues,  or  going  out  of  the  way  to  explain 
difficulties  which  the  text  might  suggest,  but  which  it 
does  not  suggest  to  any  in  the  congregation,  and  which 
do  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  the  sermon  to  clear  up. 
The  common  mind  is  wearied  with  such  excursions  to  ex- 
plain difificulties  that  do  not  originate  in  itself,  and  which 
it  cares  nothing  about.  Solid  difficulties  it  can  appreci- 
ate, and  it  will  patiently  bear  with  their  explanation. 
Those  difficulties  are  chiefly  practical — those  hard  things 
in  truth,  doctrine,  and  life,  especially  in  the  beginning  of 
the  spiritual  life,  of  which  all  men  have  some  experience. 

While  the  explanation  is  thus  concise,  it  need   not  be 


*  Quintilian's  "  Institutes,"  B.  vii  ,  c.  3,  s.  i. 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITIOxV  OF  SEHMON.         367 

dry.  It  should  not  be  a  mere  analysis  of  words  and  sen- 
tences, but  a  search  after  the  living  truth,  conducted  with 
animation  and  zest.  "Definition,"  Vinet  says,  "as 
much  as  possible,  should  excite  and  stimulate  the  free 
and  vital  forces  of  the  soul.  Perfect  definition  is  that 
which  at  the  same  time  gives  knowledge,  comprehension, 
feeling,  and  faith."  ' 

4.  Modest.  There  may  be  all  the  scholarship  that  is 
needed  in  it,  but  it  should  be  modestly  expressed.  Any 
pretentious  display  of  commentators  and  names  of  learned 
authors,  especially  foreign  authors,  if  harmless,  is  foolish. 

5.  It  should  suggest  the  proposition  or  subject  of  the 
sermon.  It  should  build  up  the  discourse  to  this  point, 
where  the  proposition  stands  forth  from  all  these  prepara- 
tory scaffoldings  of  definition,  firm  and  clear.  There 
should  be  a  natural  and  logical  step  from  the  explanation 
up  to  the  proposition.  The  proposition — the  explanation 
seems  to  say — is  thus  the  great  lesson  of  the  text. 
"Whatever,"  says  Abbe  Maury,  "in  this  part  of  the 
discourse,  doth  not  lead  to  the  principal  parts  of  a  ser- 
mon, is  useless." 

6.  It  should  bear  upon  every  part,  even  upon  the  con- 
clusion, of  a  sermon.  The  explanation  should  skillfully 
prepare  for  each  after  step  and  thought  ;  it  should  lay  its 
train  for  every  future  blow.  While  there  is  development 
after  the  explanation,  there  should  yet  be  the  introduc- 
tion of  no  absolutely  new  or  foreign  truth  in  the  progress 
of  the  sermon,  the  idea  of  which,  or  the  ground  of  the 
introduction  of  which,  is  not  in  some  way  brought  out  or 
suggested  in  the  explanation. 

As  to  the  time  and  place  of  the  explanation,  its  natural 
place  is  immediately  after  the  introduction  ;    but  it  is 


'  "  Homiletics, "  p.  169. 


3^8  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

sometimes  intermingled  with  the  introduction,  and  some- 
times takes  the  place  of  it.  The  more  important  of  the 
two  should  precede.  Nevertheless,  although  we  have 
assigned  to  the  explanation  a  formal  place  immediately- 
after  the  introduction,  and  though  the  best  authorities, 
ancient  and  modern,  would  give  it  this  place,  yet  even 
this  rule  is  not  a  rigid  one  ;  for  however  or  wherever,  in 
the  course  of  a  sermon,  we  define  the  text,  and  bring  out 
its  true  sense  more  clearly,  there  is  the  explanation.  It 
may  be  direct  or  indirect  ;  it  may  precede  or  follow  the 
theme  ;  it  may  be  in  the  nature  of  elaborate  analysis,  or 
of  more  brief,  condensed  synthesis  ;  but  the  explanation, 
in  all  cases,  is  the  use  of  the  critical  faculty  employed 
upon  the  interpretation  of  the  text,  rather  than  the  exer- 
cise of  the  logical  or  more  strictly  reasoning  faculty, 
which  arrives  at  general  truths,  and  develops  the  ultimate 
relations  of  the  truth  which  is  thus  distinctly  evolved. 

Sec.    1 6.    The  Proposition. 

"  A  proposition,"  says  Whately,  "  signifies  a  sentence 
in  which  something  is  said,  affirmed,  or  denied,  of 
another." 

"  That  which  is  spoken  of  is  called  the  '  subject '  of  the 
proposition  ;  and  that  which  is  said  of  it  is  called  the 
'  predicate  ;  '  and  these  two  are  called  the  '  terms  '  of  the 
proposition,  from  their  being  in  natural  order  the  extremes 
or  boundaries  of  it." 

A  proposition  is  either  logical  or  rhetorical.  A  logical 
proposition  is  a  judgment  expressed  in  words  ;  as,  "  The 
character  of  sin  is  progressive."  A  logical  proposition 
demands  proof. 

A  rhetorical  or  general  proposition  is  the  simple  an- 
nouncement  of   any    fact  or   truth;  as    "The   immuta- 


ANAL  VSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         l^^ 

bility  of  the  law;"  or,  put  into  a  more  formal  state- 
ment, "  My  subject  of  discourse  is  the  immutabiHty  of  the 
law."  A  rhetorical  proposition  admits  of  general  discus- 
sion without  strictly  demanding  proof. 

But  what,  definitely,  is  the  proposition  of  a  sermon  ? 
The  proposition  of  a  sermon  {Dcr  Hauptsatz)  is  that  por- 
tion in  which  the  subject  or  the  theme  of  the 

,.     .        ,  1  c  11       What  is  the 

sermon  is  more  distmctly  and  more  formally 

proposition  oi 

announced.  a  sermon. 

The  place  of  such  a  proposition  may  be  at 

the  beginning  or  at  the  end  of  a  discourse,  according  to 

the  method  which  we  pursue— whether  we  take  a  given 

truth  and  analyze  it,  or  from  its  various  scat- 

Place  of 
tered  elements  we  build  it  up  gradually  mto 

proposition. 

the  enunciation   of  some  general    synthetic 
truth. 

The  place,  time,  and  method  of  announcing  the  propo- 
sition may  be  thus  varied. 

It  may,  however,  be  laid  down  as  an  almost  invariable 
principle,  that  it  increases  the  facility  of  apprehension 
and  the  degree  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  audience,  to 
announce,  as  near  the  beginning  of  the  discourse  as  pos- 
sible, what  is  the  subject  under  discussion. 

There  should  be  at  all  events  a  definite  subject  in  the 
speaker's  mind,  a  main  idea  about  which  all  other  ideas 
cluster,  and  toward  which  all  other  thoughts  tend  ;  and  it 
aids  the  hearer  also  to  know  as  soon  as  may  be  practica- 
ble what  this  main  thought  is.  The  transition,  indeed, 
may  be  somewhat  gradual  from  the  subject  lying  in  the 
preacher's  mind  to  the  formal  proposition  in  which  it 
becomes  embodied  ;  but  the  process  should  be  toward 
that  formal  expression  or  proposition,  thus  transferring 
the  subject  from  the  mind  of  the  speaker  to  that  of  the 
hearer. 


370  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

Therefore,  as  a  general  rule,  the  proposition,  in  some 
more  or  less  distinct  shape,  should,  as  soon  as  possible, 
follow  the  explanation.  At  all  events,  the  preacher  should 
have  a  definite  proposition  or  subject  to  speak  to, 
whether  he  announces  it  sooner  or  later,  or  whether  he 
announces  it  formally  or  not. 

Rut  the  subject  may  be  a  complex  one,  involving 
many  particular  subjects,  or  propositions,  under  some 
more  general  theme  ;  different  parts  of  the  same  subject, 
or  different  views  of  the  same  subject.  In  such  cases  the 
proposition  must  be  brought  forward  in  parts,  in  the  form 
of  a  more  gradual  development  of  the  subject,  at  various 
stages  of  the  discourse. 

Perhaps,  also,  in  some  cases,  it  would  not  do  to  an- 
nounce the  subject  at  once  ;  the  audience  are  not  pre- 
pared for  it,  or  they  maybe  prejudiced  against  it,  or  they 
may  be  entirely  ignorant  of  it.  At  all  events,  some  pro- 
cess of  preparation  is  needed  to  clear  the  way  for  the 
definite  statement  of  the  subject. 

The  word  of  God  is  to  be  placed  in  a  special  light,  to 
be  adapted  to  the  special  need  of  the  soul,  of  the  time, 
of  the  congregation.  Of  course  the  transition  from  the 
exordium  to  the  proposition  should  not  be  harsh  and 
abrupt.  It  should  be  free  and  natural.  The  principle 
of  transition  is  one  especially  to  be  studied  in  the  com- 
position of  sermons. 

There  are,  however,  few  subjects  that  a  minister  is 
called  to  preach  upon  which,  having  drawn  them  freely 
from  the  text,  he  may  not  clearly  and  boldly  announce 
at  the  outset,  or,  at  least,  in  the  initial  portion  of  his 
discourse. 

Mullois,  the  Catholic  writer,  says,  "  Let  it  be  perceived 
at  once  what  the  subject  is,  and  what  you  intend  to  say. 
Sketch  out  your  truth  in  a  few  sententious  words,  clearly 


AXALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMOX.         371 

and  emphatically  enunciated.  Let  there  be  none  of 
those  vague  and  halting  considerations  which  give  tlie 
speaker  the  air  of  a  man  who  is  blindfolded,  and  strikes 
at  random  ;  none  of  those  perplexing  exordiums  wherein 
every  conceivable  fancy  is  brought  to  bear  upon  a  single 
idea,  and  which  frequently  elicit  the  remark,  '  What  is 
he  driving  at  ?  What  topic  is  he  going  to  discuss  ?  '  Let 
the  subject-matter  be  vigorously  stated  at  the  outset,  so 
that  it  may  rivet  the  minds  and  engage  the  attention  of 
the  audience."  ' 

It  is  true  that  in  the  meditative  discourse,  especially 
recommended  by  Fenelon,  in  which  the  thought  develops 
itself  from  within,  and  flows  along  in  the  more  hidden 
currents  of  a  contemplative  mind,  the  discourse  would 
cease  altogether  to  flow  where  it  was  confined  in  the 
strict  bounds  of  a  proposition.  In  such  a  discourse  the 
proposition  is  not  formally  announced,  but  rather  is  sug- 
gested through  the  whole  course  of  the  sermon.  It 
dawns  upon  the  hearer  out  of  the  apparent  obscurity  of 
the  discussion  like  the  gradual  light  of  day.  Such  a 
style  of  sermon  requires  a  peculiar  theme  and  a  peculiar 
genius  ;  and  in  unskilful  hands,  or  from  a  mind  not  in 
the  highest  degree  spiritual,  if  it  were  very  commonly 
adopted,  it  would  be  disastrous  to  profitable  and  impres- 
sive teaching  in  the  pulpit. 

The  significance  and  importance  of  the  proposition  to 
the  strength  and  beauty  of  the  discourse  cannot  be  bet- 
ter   illustrated    than   in    the   familiar  exam-  ^j^^ 
pie  of  a  tree.      If  the   argument    forms  the    significance 
branches,  the   proposition    forms   the  trunk,  and  importance 

and    the   text   the    root.      Kow    can    there        °^  *^^ 

proposition, 
be  a  tree  without   a  trunk,    or  a  discourse 

without  a   proposition  ?    The   trunk,   before    it    disparts 
•  "  The  Clergy  and  the  Pulpit,"  p.  iiS. 


373  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

itself  into  divisions,  is  narrow,  rigid,  fixed  ;  it  is  not 
the  graceful  part  of  the  tree  ;  it  is  not,  apparently,  the 
living  part  of  the  tree  ;  but  how  could  there  be  any  life 
or  grace  without  it  ?  The  proposition  is  just  this  defi- 
^  nite,  unyielding,  all-comprehending  part  of  the  sermon  ; 
the  strength  of  the  discourse  is  bound  up  in  it  ;  all  the 
life  of  the  sermon  runs  through  it  to  the  minutest  ex- 
tremity, while  it  draws  its  life  immediately  from  the  text, 
or  the  divine  word.  As  one  tree  has  generally  one  trunk 
and  one  character,  and  bears  one  kind  of  fruit  and  leaf, 
and  is  distinguished  from  all  other  trees,  so  one  sermon 
should  have  one  subject  and  one  aim.  Dr.  Emmons  was 
of  this  opinion.  He  says  of  himself,  "  For  this  reason  I 
seldom  preached  textually,  but  chose  my  subject  in  the 
first  place,  and  then  chose  a  text  adapted  to  the  subject. 
This  enabled  me  to  make  my  sermons  more  simple, 
homogeneous,  and  pointed,  while,  at  the  same  time,  it 
served  to  confine  the  hearers'  attention  to  one  important 
leading  sentiment.  Those  who  preach  textually  are 
obliged  to  follow  the  text  in  all  its  branches,  which  often 
lead  to  different  and  unconnected  subjects.  Hence,  by 
the  time  the  preacher  has  gone  through  all  the  branches 
of  the  text,  his  sermon  will  become  so  complicated  that 
no  hearer  can  carry  away  any  more  of  it  than  a  few  strik- 
ing, unconnected  expressions  ;  whereas,  by  the  opposite 
mode  of  preaching,  the  hearer  may  be  master  of  the  whole 
discourse,  which  hangs  together  like  a  fleece  of  wool."  ' 

Although  we  cannot  agree  with  Dr.  Emmons's  view  of 
textual  preaching,  and  of  selecting  a  subject  before  a 
text,  it  is  well  to  have  his  positive  views  upon  the  matter 
of  a  proposition. 

The  rigidity  of  a  previously  selected  human  theme  may 


'  Park's  "  Life  of  Emmons,"  p.  294. 


A,V.1L  VS/S  AXD  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         373 

sometimes  act  disastrously  upon  a  sermon  and  destroy 
the  life  which  runs  in  freer  and  at  the  same  time  deeper 
currents  in  a  passage  of  the  word  of  God,  whose  unity 
should  be  sought  for  in  itself,  and  not  out  of  itself  in  a 
preconceived  proposition. 

But  whatever  may  be  true  of  a  composition  to  be  read, 
a  spoken  address  needs  some  distinct  subject  to  speak 
upon  ;  the  speaker  needs  it  to  give  him  concentration, 
and  the  majority  of  hearers,  also,  who  do  not  or  cannot 
make  accurate  discriminations,  need  to  have  something 
definite  before  them. 

As  to  the  substance  or  matter  of  the  proposition,  there 
are  some  rules  to  be  observed. 

I.  There  should  be  a  unity  of  the  parts  of  Substance 
the  proposition  with  the  whole.  The  unity  *°  '"^^  ^^ 
of  the  sermon  depends  upon  the  unity  of  the  pronosition 
subject,  and  the  subject  is  one  w'hich  can  be 
stated  in  a  single  proposition.  There  may  be  differ- 
ent parts,  and  widely  distinct  parts,  of  the  subject  dis- 
cussed, but  still  they  should  all  be  comprehended,  or  be 
capable  of  being  stated,  in  one  more  general  subject  ;  as, 
(i.)  Where  the  proposition  has  several  subordinate  parts  ; 
e.g.,  "  The  means  of  spiritual  growth" — («.)  communion 
with  God,  {b.^  cultivation  of  the  affections,  [c.')  active  ser- 
vice, etc.  (2.)  Where  there  is  a  general  predicate  of  the  co- 
ordinate parts  of  one  whole  ;  e.g.,  "  The  nature,  design, 
and  importance  of  prayer. "  It  is  evident  here  that  the  last 
is  the  main  idea,  or  the  general  predicate  of  all,  and  the 
discussion  of  the  others  should  tend  to  the  confirmation 
of  the  last.  (3.)  Where  there  are  other  topics  of  inquiry, 
to  which  the  proposition  fairly  leads.  Thus,  having 
established  the  proposition  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a 
visible  church,  we  may  go  on  to  show  our  relations  to  it, 
and  its  relations  to  us  and  other  men. 


374  JIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

2.  The  proposition  should  be  plainly  involved  or  im- 
plied in  the  text.  Its  great  beauty  is  to  correspond  with 
the  meaning  and  spirit  of  the  text.  No  theme  other  than 
that  which  finds  its  ground  in  the  text  should  be  em- 
ployed. 

Sometimes  the  theme  is  apparent,  but  generally  reflec- 
tion is  required,  a  patient  circumspection  that  takes  in  the 
connection  of  the  text  with  all  that  precedes  and  follows, 
and  that  enters  deeply  into  the  thought  and  spirit  of  the 
writer.  It  is  necessary  to  understand  thoroughly  the  whole 
environment  of  the  passage,  so  as  to  get  at  its  main  idea  ; 
or,  at  least,  at  some  legitimate  issue,  with  which  the  main 
thought  is  connected  ;  and,  if  the  text  is  complex,  to 
come  at  the  higher  thought  which  binds  all  its  parts 
together,  even  if  this  be  not  contained  in  the  text  itself. 
We  may  thus  take  for  our  proposition  a  comprehensive 
or  a  special  theme,  if  it  be  legitimately  drawn  from 
the  text — let  it  be,  for  example,  that  contained  in  i  Pet. 
2  :  1 1-20.  VVe  may  inquire  here  what  is  the  higher  or 
comprehensive  thought  that  connects  these  verses — viz., 
"  The  elevated  mind  which  the  Christian  should  main- 
tain in  relation  to  earthly  things."  ' 

Often  the  text  is  the  theme  pure,  as  in  2  Cor.  3:17; 
and  it  would  be  pedantical  in  such  a  case  to  use  any 
terms  other  than  those  of  the  text  ;  but  it  is  generally 
necessary  to  bring  what  lies  in  the  text  into  one  particu- 
lar point  of  view.  A  sermon  has  been  called  an  ellipse 
with  tv/o  points,  text  and  theme.  This  ellipse  should  be 
as  perfect  as  possible.  Sometimes  the  proposition  is  too 
wide  for  the  text  ;  as  John  14  :  13,  "  And  whatsoever  ye 
shall  ask  in  my  name,  that  will  I  do,  that  the  Father  may 
be  glorified  in  the  Son" — it  would  hardly  be  proper  to 


'  Otto's  "  Prak.  Theol." 


A.VALVS/S  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         375 

derive  from  this  the  subject  of  tlie  general  use  of  prayer  ; 
the  more  limited  subject  is,  "  Prayer  in  the  name  of  Jesus. " 

Subjects  drawn  from  whatever  text,  or  not  drawn  from 
any  text  at  all,  may  sometimes  be  too  big,  or  comprehen- 
sive, as  "  religion,"  "  sin,"  "  evil,"  "  Christianity,"  and 
"  God."  Sometimes,  on  the  other  hand,  the  proposition 
is  too  small  or  too  simple  ;  thus  from  the  text  in  Ephe- 
sians  4:25,  "  Wherefore  putting  away  lying,  speak  every 
man  truth  with  his  neighbor  ;  for  we  are  members  one 
of  another,"  to  make  the  proposition  simply  "  The  put- 
ting away  of  lying,"  whereas  it  is  a  more  positive  and  at 
the  same  time  more  complex  subject,  viz.,  "  The  duty  of 
truthfulness  as  made  obligatory  by  the  membership  of 
Christ."  Subjects  may  be  too  curious  and  insignificant  ; 
like  "The  nature  of  white  lies;"  "The  necessity  of 
attending  to  one's  health;"  "The  use  of  tobacco;" 
"  The  number  of  times  prayer  should  be  made  daily  ;" 
"newspaper  slanders;"  and  "  e.xtravagance  in  dress;" 
things  of  considerable  practical  importance,  it  may  be, 
and  which  may  be  noticed  incidentally,  but  which  are 
not  worthy  of  forming  in  themselves  the  sole  theme  of 
a  sacred  discourse,  not  being  the  simple  expression  of 
comprehensive  principles,  whether  good  or  bad,  but 
rather  the  outcomes  of  actual  life. 

Preachers  should  strike  the  parent  vice  on  the  head, 
and  not  run  around  after  the  thousand  little  wriggling 
snaky  brood. 

The  same  text  may  have  different  sides  to  it,  and  may 
suggest  quite  different  themes  ;  how  many  sides,  for  in- 
stance, a  text  like  Matthew  6:13  has  !  All  that  we  should 
be  careful  for  is,  that  the  theme  be  truly  grounded  in  the 
text.  Sometimes  we  cannot  find  a  text  which  corre- 
sponds precisely  to  our  subject  ;  the  proposition  should 
then  be   made  as  identical  as  possible,  and  we  may  be 


37^  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

obliged  to  use  a  general  text  in  preaching  on  a  particular 
theme,  and  so  vice  versa, 

3.  The  proposition  should  include,  essentially,  all  that 
is  to  be  discussed  in  the  sermon  ;  no  less  and  no  more. 
The  proposition  is  comprehended  in  the  text,  and  the 
sermon  in  the  proposition  ;  one  should  therefore  endeavor 
to  make  every  word  in  the  proposition  suggestive  of  the 
sermon.  The  sermon  or  discussion  is  contained  in  the 
proposition  as  parts  in  a  whole.  The  proposition  is  a 
handle  of  the  sermon,  to  take  it  all  up  together,  and  a 
rudder  of  the  sermon,  to  guide  it  in  its  definite  course  of 
thought.  In  a  doctrinal  sermon,  especially,  the  proposi- 
tion should  be  restricted  to  exactly  what  is  discussed,  ex- 
cept when  a  special  advantage  is  to  be  gained  by  a  con- 
nectecj  view  of  the  relations  of  doctrines  ;  therefore  we 
should  strive  to  make  the  proposition  as  wide  and  com- 
prehensive as  we  wish  to  make  the  discussion  itself. 

As  to  the  structure  and  qualities  of  the  proposition,  the 
general  idea  of  a  good  proposition  is,  that  it 

Structure      should  be, 

.  ^^  I.    Plain  and  simple.      It  should  be  plain 

of  the  ... 

proposition.    ^"'^    simple    without    being     commonplace. 

This  simplicity  of  form  may  be  violated,  (a.) 
By  too  scientific  and  philosophical  a  statement  of  the 
theme.  It  should,  on  the  contrary,  be  as  concrete  and 
popular  as  possible.  Abstract  and  singular  themes  char- 
acterized the  preaching  of  the  eighteenth  century  ;  thus 
one  of  Reinhard's  themes  for  a  sermon  was,  "  Upon 
the  habit  of  the  human  mind  to  be  indifferent  toward  a 
long  and  earnestly  desired  good,  when  the  moment  of 
possession  came."  Another  instance  of  a  strained  prop- 
osition is  also  from  the  German,  "That  it  is  not  diffi- 
cult for  the  Christian  to  make  himself  friends  in  entirely 
unexpected  and  disagreeable  situations." 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         377 

{b.^  By  the  typical  and  metaphysical  statement,  a  form 
not  to  be  used  when  the  text  itself  is  a  figure.  Figure 
in  a  proposition,  it  is  true,  is  sometimes  beautiful  :  such 
as  "Christ  the  good  shepherd,"  "Christ  the  rock  of 
ages."  But  this  last  form  of  typifying  the  Saviour  has 
been  carried  to  an  extravagant  pitch  ;  and  German 
preachers  have  preached  upon  "Christ  a  carpenter," 
"a  hat-maker,"  "a  tailor,"  and  "a  clucking  hen." 
Anything  fanciful  in  the  proposition  is  peculiarly  out  of 
place  ;  for  if  plain,  strong  common  sense  should  appear 
anywhere,  it  is  in  the  proposition  ;  there  may  be  carving 
and  ornament  in  other  parts  of  the  vessel,  but  we  want 
the  rudder  to  be  made  of  oak  and  iron.  These  are  some 
illustrations  of  propositions  from  the  German  preacher 
Harms  :  "  Unbelief  is  ingratitude,"  or  shorter  still, 
"  Unglaube  ist  Undank. "  "The  happiness  of  the  un-  j^ 
happy." 

"  Where  your  treasure  is  there  your  heart  is." 

(i.)  As  thou  lovest  so  thou  livest. 

(2.)  As  thou  livest  so  thou  diest. 

(3.)  As  thou  diest  so  thou  continuest. 

These  are  from  Schleiermacher  : 

"  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 

(i.)   It  teaches  all. 

(2.)  It  does  all. 

(3.)  It  possesses  alL 

"  What  we  should  fear  and  what  we  should  not  fear." 

(i.)  What  not. 

(2.)  What. 

This  is  from  Tholuck  : 

"  How  God   draws   near   to   man  and   how  man  draws 
near  to  God." 

This  is  from  Palmer  : 

"  What  we  are  ;  what  we  shall  be  ;  what  we  should  be. " 


378  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

2.  Neat  and  condensed.  This  is  for  its  easier  use  and 
remembrance.  All  unnecessary  synonyms  and  weakening 
qualifications  are  to  be  avoided  in  the  proposition.  Com- 
pactness is  an  especial  good  quality.  Any  superfluous  dis- 
junctives, such  as  "  or,"  "  notwithstanding,"  "  neverthe- 
less," "  so  far  forth,"  etc.,  should  be  dispensed  with,  and 
neat  strength  should  be  sought  for.  The  proposition 
may  sometimes  comprehend  in  itself  the  divisions  of  the 
sermon,  and  announce  them,  thus  making  all  the  merely 
mechanical  parts  of  the  sermon  as  compact  as  possible  ; 
and  this,  perhaps,  is  the  best  way,  generally,  to  construct 
a  proposition.  The  proposition  may  also  consist  of  the 
grand  divisions  themselves.  There  may  be  several  propo- 
sitions ;  these  form  parts  of  one  subject  :  coming  one  after 
another,  they  thus  gradually  develop  the  entire  thought, 
subject,  or  comprehensive  proposition. 

3.  Specific.  Even  the  unity  of  the  proposition  must 
be  sometimes  sacrificed  to  attain  this  particularity  of 
theme.  The  discussion  of  specific  subjects — of  the 
species  under  the  genus,  of  the  particular  under  the 
general — is  indicative  of  an  acute  mind.  The  more 
restricted  a  proposition  is,  the  smaller  portion  of  a  truth 
discussed,  if  ably  discussed,  the  more  intensity  of  inter- 
est will  be  aroused,  and  the  more  impression  for  good 
will  be  made.  Where  different  kinds  of  propositions 
offer  themselves,  then  the  more  specific  one  is  to  be 
preferred  ;  and  every  proposition  should  express  a  definite 
and  complete  idea. 

4.  It  should  not  be  stated  in  the  language  of  the  text. 
There  should  be  a  fresh  form  given  to  it  ;  and  although 
drawn  immediately  from  the  text,  it  should,  if  possible, 
present  some  new  form  or  aspect  of  the  old  truth.  An 
exception  to  this  rule  is,  where  the  text  is  itself  prepo- 
sitional in  form,  and  makes  a  complete  theme,  as  in  that 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         379 

noblest  and  profoundcst  text  in  the  Bible,  "  For  God  is 
love." 

And  sometimes,  also,  the  title  of  a  sermon  which  is 
drawn  directly  from  the  terms  of  the  text  may  form  its 
theme.  Thus  a  parable  may  form  both  the  text  and  the 
proposition,  or  theme,  of  a  sermon,  without  drawing  out  a 
definite  subject  in  a  prepositional  form,  e.g.,  "  The  Un- 
just Judge,"  "  The  Ten  Virgins,"  *'  The  Lost  Son." 

In  like  manner  in  treating  a  scriptural  narrative,  the 
subject  oftentimes  may  be  simply  the  gathering  up  of  the 
whole  passage  into  a  rhetorical  proposition,  or  a  titular 
form,  as  Mark  14  :  1-9,  "  Christ  in  the  house  of  Bethany  ;" 
John  13:18-30,  "The  going  out  of  Judas;"  Matt. 
22:15-22,  "History  of  the  Tribute  Money;"  Mark 
16  :  1-18,  "  The  Resurrection  of  Jesus." 

5.  It  should  be  prudently  expressed.  It  should  not  lay 
out  too  large  a  subject,  or  present  it  in  too  ambitious  a 
way,  e.g.,  "  I  shall  prove  in  this  sermon  the  doctrine  of 
total  depravity."  "  I  shall  explain  in  this  discourse  the 
apparent  contradiction  between  the  absolute  sovereignty 
of  God  and  the  absolute  freedom  of  man." 

Neither  should  it  be  in  a  paradoxical  form,  which  al- 
ways carries  with  it  something  of  a  vain  and  egotistic  air. 

6.  It  should  be  varied.  Let  there  be  no  stereotyped 
way  of  stating  the  subject.  Sometimes  it  is  well  to  keep 
the  main  proposition  in  the  background,  and  at  other 
times  to  let  it  be  the  first  word  uttered,  the  first  thing 
announced.  As  a  rare  exception,  there  may  be  through 
the  whole  sermon  no  definite  statement  of  the  subject, 
but  it  may  be  left  to  be  gathered  by  the  hearer.  As  a 
rule,  however,  rarely  to  be  departed  from,  there  should 
be  a  clear  and  specific  statement  made  of  what  one  is 
intending  to  discuss. 

In  concluding  this  subject,  the  distinct  warning  should 


3 So  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

be  repeated,  that  the  prepositional  form  belongs  almost 
exclusively  to  the  didactic  discourse,  and  should  not, 
therefore,  be  invariably  followed.  It  presupposes  the 
synthetic  method  of  treatment.  It  requires  that  a  dis- 
tinct topic  should  be  drawn  from  the  text,  gathering  up 
and  combining  all  the  ideas  of  the  text  in  a  definite  form, 
and  then  that  the  sermon  should  be  built,  not  upon  the 
text,  but  upon  the  proposition.  This  has  been  our  usual 
New  England  method  of  preaching,  which  has  come 
down,  in  fact,  from  the  earliest  Protestant  preachers  ; 
and  it  is  not  to  be  rashly  or  entirely  given  up,  for  it  is 
admirably  adapted  to  popular  instruction  ;  but,  as  has 
been  often  urged,  a  return  to  a  simpler  and  more  direct 
method  of  preaching  from  the  Word  of  God,  and  not 
from  a  human  proposition  which  is  drawn  from  it,  would 
be  healthful.  This  would  be  also,  historically  speaking, 
the  ancient  method.  We  have  already  seen,  in  tracing 
the  growth  of  the  sermon,  how  long  it  was  before  a  distinct 
theme  {Thcmci)  began  to  be  developed  from  the  text,  and 
to  form  the  immediate  subject  of  address,  and  to  tie  it 
down  to  narrowly  prescribed  metes  and  bounds.  The 
necessities  of  a  later  philosophic  culture  and  of  a  more 
logical  habit  of  thought,  especially  in  Occidental  lands, 
demanded  and  produced  the  prepositional  form  of  treat- 
ing divine  truth.  Let  us  be  careful,  only,  and  not  suffer 
this  to  become  a  yoke  of  bondage  confining  the  free  ex- 
pression of  truth. 

Sec.    17.    The  Division. 

The  principle  of  division  (Latin,  Distribiitio  ;  German, 
Die  Theile)  is  a  necessary  and  even  beautiful  one  as  ap- 
plied to  a  discourse  when,  in  the  first  place,  it  is  not  car- 
ried to  an  artificial  extreme,  and,  in  the  second  place, 
when  there  is  matter  worth  dividing.     It  does  not  invent 


ANALYSIS  A  AW  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         381 

the  material  for  a  sermon.  It  is  not  the  original  sub- 
stance of  thought,  but  if  there  be  already  rich  thoughts 
it  arranges  and  disposes  them  to  the  best  advantage.  It 
is  sometimes,  following  the  Latin  term,  called  "  The 
Disposition,"  especially  by  French  and  German  writers 
on  homilctics  ;  but  the  term  "  Division"  is  a  common 
one  with  us,  though  conveying  a  somewhat  narrow  con- 
ception of  this  not  unimportant  nor  altogether  unvital 
principle  in  sermonizing. 

The  fact  of  having   formal  divisions  in  a  sermon,  and 
the  character  of  these  divisions,  is  influenced,  of  course, 
by  the  kind   of  discussion  which  a  subject 
may  require  or  assume  ;  since  a  certain  prin-  The  division 
ciple  of  division  is  applicable  to  the  peculiar  influenced  by 
,  /•     1       •     1  •    •  1      1  -r-i.         the  character 

character  of  the  mdividual  sermon.      llius,  ,^. 

of  the 

for  example,  the  sermon  may  assume  the  sermon, 
logical  form  of  discussion,  which  proceeds 
in  a  regular  method  of  reasoning,  bv  a  series  of  connected 
propositions  or  divisions,  each  of  which  is  true  because 
the  one  that  precedes  it  is  true  ;  and  all  of  these  tend  to 
some  general  proposition  or  result.  This  form  of  dis- 
cussion, it  is  evident,  absolutely  requires  divisions.  It 
needs  a  clear  statement  of  the  proofs,  or,  at  least,  of 
each  successive  part  of  the  argument,  and  of  the  connec- 
tions of  these  parts.  It  should  resemble,  in  lucidness  of 
division  and  statement,  a  problem  of  Euclid. 

Where  also  the  sermon  is  more  natural  and  rhetorical, 
consisting  mainly  of  a  simple  discussion  of  the  text,  and 
then  of  a  series  of  inferences,  or  observations,  drawn  from 
the  subject,  expanding  the  theme  into  its  various  rela- 
tions and  applications,  good  divisions  are  necessary. 
Divisions  here  are  the  clear  marking  of  each  new  observa- 
tion, or  thought,  which,  if  not  so  marked  might  lead  to 
tedious  confusion. 


382  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

This  kind  of  discussion  demands,  perhaps,  the  more 
care  in  its  divisional  arrangement  from  its  very  faciHty 
and  tendency  to  commonplace  remark.  F.  W.  Robert- 
son's sermons  abound  in  inferences  ;  but  they  generally 
come  in  after  an  argumentative  discussion,  when  he  intro- 
duces a  number  of  distinct  and  interesting  observations. 
He  thus  mingles  the  logical  and  inferential  form  of  ser- 
mon, which  is  a  good  method.  Having  thoughtfully  set 
forth  a  particular  idea,  he  draws  remarks  from  it,  and 
then  proceeds  to  another  part  of  the  subject.  This  is 
illustrated  in  his  sermon  on  "  The  Star  in  the  East," 
Second  Series. 

The  contemplative  sermon  almost  defies  divisions,  and 
scorns  regular  methods.  It  wanders  "  at  its  own  sweet 
will."  It  is  more  liable  to  run  into  the  essay  style,  and 
lose  the  form  of  direct  address,  than  the  logical  or  infer- 
ential modes  ;  and  yet  even  a  meditative  discourse 
should  be  somewhat  amenable  to  the  laws  of  method. 

The  textual  sermon,  following  closely  the  terms  of  the 
text,  has  and  can  have  no  very  formal  divisions.  But 
still,  each  distinct  point  or  idea  of  the  text  should  be 
properly  marked,  else  even  a  textual  sermon  becomes  a 
tangled  skein. 

We  thus  see  that  regular  divisions  belong  to  the  logical 
or  argumentative  style  of  sermon  more  fitly  than  to  any 
other  ;  and  yet,  that  all  kinds  of  sermons  demand  some- 
thing like  "  divisions,"  which  clearly  mark  or  set  forth 
the  different  steps  of  the  discourse. 

How  may  the  divisions  of  a  sermon  be  defined  ?     They 

are  simply  the  different  parts  in  which  the 

What  are  the  j^^jj^  subject  is  formally  separated  and  dis- 

.V  cussed.     They  do  not  refer  to  the  free  and 
of  a  sermon  ?  •' 

actual  development  of  a  subject  so  much  as 

to  the  special  points  of  view  in  which  the  theme  is  to  be 


AXAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         383 

held  up  and  regarded.  To  make  them  requires  a  purely 
intellectual  process,  clearly  discriminating,  analyzing,  and 
classifying  thought.  They  give  a  rapid  and  condensed 
aspect  of  the  whole  subject  in  its  constituent  parts,  and 
thus  the  better  enable  the  hearer  to  follow  the  thread  of 
the  discourse,  which  the  preacher  is  to  hold  in  his  hand. 
More  than  any  other  part  they  mark  the  p /an  of  the  ser- 
mon ;  they  are  more  important  to  the  plan  than  is  any 
other  portion. 

The    utility  of   divisions.     An    ancient    father   of   the 
Church  said,  "  Shall  the  adversaries  of  the  faith  be  able 
to  state  what   is  untrue  with   brevity,  clear- 
ness, and  plausibility  ;  while  we  give  so  poor       ^  "  1 1  y  o 

divisions, 
an  account  of  the  truth  that  it  makes  people 

weary  to  listen  to  it,  prevents  them  from  gaining  any 
insight  into  its  real  meaning,  and  leaves  them  disin- 
clined to  believe  it  ?" 

The  utility  of  divisions  is  seen  in  the  fact  that — 

1.  They  promote  variety  in  unity.  They  do  not  pro-  "^ 
mote  mere  variety,  for  while  they  seem  to  separate,  they 
really  bind  together,  in  a  flexible  but  strong  chain,  the 
whole  discourse.  The  articulations  and  joints  of  the  hu- 
man body  do  not  destroy  its  unity,  but  belong  to  one  sys- 
tem, one  organized  life.  Thus  all  the  groups  of  ideas  im- 
plied in  divisions  and  subdivisions  are  referred  to  some 
common  centre  of  life  ;  and  they  are  not  merely  artificial 
divisions  ;  they  have  some  good  reason  for  them,  bearing 
upon  the  true  power  of  the  sermon.     A  just  classification 

of  the  various  ideas  or  aspects  of  a  subject  implies  some 
general  law  of  unity  which  binds  them  vitally  together. 

2.  They  promote  clearness.  Fenelon  has  made  an  ob- 
jection to  the  use  of  divisions,  because,  he  says,  they  were 
derived  originally  from  the  schoolmen  ;  but  even  if  they 
were  thus  derived,  if,  withal,  they  are  valuable,  there  is  no 


384  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

reason  why  they  should  not  be  used.  Natural  divi- 
^ons  of  a  discourse  are  older  than  the  schoolmen  ; 
they  spring  from  the  nature  of  things.  Good  divisions 
are  nothing  more  than  the  clear  analysis  of  any  given 
theme  of  thought.  They  break  it  up  into  its  component 
parts  or  specific  ideas  ;  and  this  analytic  process,  when 
not  carried  into  hair-splitting,  aids  the  clear  understand- 
ing of  the  subject.  It  assists  the  hearer  to  follow  the 
road  which  the  discussion  takes  ;  and  he  cannot  entirely 
lose  his  way,  even  if  he  should  be  for  a  time  thrown  out. 
It  also  prevents  the  sermon  from  becoming  a  mass  of  in- 
coherent and  confused  matter. 

3.  They  promote  the  progress  of  the  discussion.  Good 
divisions  enable  the  writer  to  step  easily  from  a  lower 
to  a  higher  level  of  the  subject.  They  mark  the  logi- 
cal as  well  as  the  natural  advancement  of  thought,  and 
prevent  it  from  becoming  retrogressive  or  rotary.  They 
thus  keep  the  sermon,  or  rather  the  preacher,  from 
wasting  his  power  ;  they  enable  every  thought  to  have 
its  due  weight  ;  they  prevent  repetition.  Good  divisions 
are,  in  fact,  the  result  of  clear  thinking.  They  them- 
selves often  constitute  intrinsically  much  of  the  beauty 
and  power  of  the  discourse.  "  Aptness  to  seize  the  prin- 
ciple of  division,  and  to  effect  the  division  correctly  and 
fully  under  it,  perhaps  more  than  any  other  specific  capa- 
bility, marks  the  degree  of  ability  in  the  construction  of 
a  discourse."  ' 

4.  They  refresh  the  mind  and  memory  both  of  the 
speaker  and  hearer.  They  introduce  breaks  ;  they 
enable  the  mind  to  repose  a  moment,  and  take  a  view  of 
the  field,  to  recall  what  has  gone  before,  to  note  the  prog- 
ress which  has  been  made,  and  to  look  forward  to  what 


'  Day's  "  Art  of  Discourse,"  p.  86. 


AA'AL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         385 

is  to  come.  The  mind  rests  in  the  trench  in  which  it  is 
working  its  way  up  to  the  stronghold,  looking  both  back- 
ward and  forward.  Divisions  also  tend  to  keep  up  the 
attention  and  interest  in  the  hearer's  mind,  to  prevent  its 
weariness,  and  to  assist  in  guiding  its  thought. 

As  to  the  number  of  divisions,  the  principle  should  be 
strongly  laid  down  that  there  should  be  as  few  divisions 
as  possible.     Divisions  tend  to  make  a  dis- 
course stiff  ;  for  the  sermon  should  be  a  liv-         umber 

of 
ing  growth  from  the  text,  a  life  rather  than      divisions 

a  work.  All  mechanical  and  artificial  divi- 
sions should  therefore  be  avoided,  nay,  more,  contemned. 
The  number  of  divisions,  however,  is  governed,  as  we 
have  seen,  very  much  by  the  nature  of  the  subject  itself. 
A  very  simple  subject  requires  but  few  divisions.  The 
more  a  subject  will  bear  analyzing,  of  course  the  more  of 
division,  separation,  and  classification  of  ideas  is  needed. 
A  difficult  theological  theme  may  sometimes  require 
many  divisions,  and  even  subdivisions. 

There  should  be  no  arbitrary  number  of  divisions  ; 
and,  indeed,  it  is  puerile  to  multiply  divisions  merely  for 
the  sake  of  doing  so,  and  of  giving  a  logical  air  to  a  ser- 
mon. This  is  not  the  way  wise  men  talk.  Different 
forms  of  stating  the  same  thing  do  not  demand  different 
divisions.  One  should  certainly  never  introduce  a  new 
division  unless  it  is  absolutely  required  in  order  to  make 
the  sense  plainer,  and  to  mark  the  progress  of  thought. 

Claude  says  :  "  Division,  in  general,  ought  to  be  re- 
strained to  a  small  number  of  parts  ;  they  should  never 
exceed  four  or  five  at  the  most  ;  the  most  admired  ser- 
mons have  only  two  or  three  parts."  He  commends  on 
the  whole  a  twofold  division  ;  in  which  this  old  writer  on 
homiletics  singularly  agrees  with  the  practice  of  one  of  the 
most  accomplished  of  modern  preachers,  F.W.  Robertson. 


386  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Dr.  Eleazer  Fitch  thinks  that,  as  a  general  rule,  three 
principal  divisions  are  enough  for  a  sermon.  He  takes  as 
a  model  for  the  sacred  oration,  the  oration  of  Cicero,"  Pro 
Lege  Manilia,"  in  which  the  orator  has  one  design  in  a 
threefold  division:  "You  must  choose  a  general;  you 
must  choose  an  able  general  ;  you  must  choose  Cneius 
Pompeius. " 

Divisions  indeed  should  be  rational  and  natural,  and 
they  are  the  best  divisions  which  arc  clearest,  briefest, 
and  most  easily  retained.  It  is  generally  well  to  have 
the  first  main  division  theoretical  and  the  second  prac- 
tical. Yet  if  the  theme  be  fertile  enough,  there  may 
be  three,  but  rarely,  almost  never,  more  than  three,  e.g. 
(John  12  .-46-50),  "  The  truth  of  Jesus  a  new  revelation 
of  God  to  the  human  mind." 

{a.')  Jesus,  through  his  teaching,  has  given  clearer  light 
to  the  human  mind  than  it  had  before. 

ib.^)  Through  his  life  and  death  he  has  made  known 
the  will  of  God  more  perfectly. 

{c.')  He  therefore  demands  an  implicit  faith  in  him  as 
the  condition  of  the  soul's  salvation. 

As  to  the  pure  philosophy  of  divisions,  every  logical 
subject  may  be  said  to  be  in  its  nature  dichtonic,  or  two- 
fold— the     thing    and    its    opposite  ;     every 

Philosophy    nietaphysical   theme   to   be   trichtonic,   con- 

..  .  .  taining  the  condition,  that  which  it  is  condi- 

divisions.  °  ' 

tioned  upon,  and  the  conception  or  idea 
which  is  developed  from  the  union  of  the  condition  and 
its  postulate.  Tetrachotony,  or  pentachotony,  or  poly- 
chotony,  are  therefore  opposed  to  a  strictly  philosophical 
method,  both  in  relation  to  the  substance  of  the  proposi- 
tion and  the  reason  and  design  of  the  division. 

As  to  the  sources  and  qualities  of  divisions,  there  can  be, 
in  fact,  no  very  definite,  or  rather  rigid  rules  laid  down,  be- 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         387 

cause  these  divisional  qualities  depend  so  entirely  upon  the 

nature  and  fruitfulness  of  the  subject.  Before, 

however,  entering  upon  this  topic,  we  would  s°"''"s  *"« 

qualities 
call  attention  (this  being  a  good  place  to  do   ^f  divisions. 

so)  to  the  interesting  view  of  a  German  writer 
respecting  the  distinction  to  be  made  between  the  sub- 
jective idea  of  a  theme  and  its  objective  and  practical 
preaching  sense  ;  and  the  divisional  principle  should  base 
itself  (he  thinks)  upon  the  latter  rather  than  upon  the 
former,  although  the  former  should  be  grasped.  Thus, 
take  the  subject  of  "  Prayer  ;"  here  the  subjective  idea  is 
the  nature  or  philosophy  of  prayer,  but  the  preaching 
idea  is  the  power  or  the  blessedness  of  prayer.  This 
may  be  spoken  of  : 

(i.)  As  to  the  blessedness  of  the  prayer  of  praise, 

(2.)  The  blessedness  of  the  prayer  of  actual  petition  for 
what  is  needed. 

(3.)  The  blessedness  of  the  prayer  of  thanksgiving. 

The  following  would  be  an  instance  of  a  subjective 
treatment  of  a  text  : 

Matt.  6  :  34,  "  Take  no  care  for  the  morrow." 

Subject  :  "  Limitation  of  our  care  for  the  future. "  This 
forbidden  care  concerns  itself  : 

(i.)  With  incidental  events  of  life. 

(2.)  With  unavoidable  necessities  of  the  future. 

(3.)  With  new  duties  which  the  future  may  bring 
with  it. 

This  plan,  an  interesting  one,  dwells  upon  the  nature 
of  this  care,  or  the  care  which  is  forbidden  ;  upon  the 
instances  \^•here  it  is  forbidden  ;  whereas  the  more  prac- 
tical and  preaching-idea  of  the  text  would  be,  "  The 
reasons  for  avoiding  anxious  care  for  the  future  ;"  not  the 
care  itself  so  much  as  the  avoiding  of  the  care,  and  thus 
following  out  the  Saviour's  positive  direction. 


3S8  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

We  would  say  of  this  fine  and  thoroughly  German 
distinction,  that,  while  there  is  force  in  it,  and  while 
preachers  should,  as  a  general  rule,  preach  objectively, 
yet  preaching  sometimes  gains  in  depth  and  richness  by 
employing  the  subjective  method.  Where,  especially,  the 
subjectiveness  is  in  the  divine  idea,  and  not  in  the  human 
idea,  or  consciousness,  which  is  usually  a  weakening 
method  of  preaching,  then  the  sermon  is  really  deepened. 
It  loses  something  of  the  apparent  element  of  practicality, 
but  gains  in  the  actual  knowledge  and  teaching  of  divine 
things. 

I.  Divisions  should  correspond  to  the  nature  and  de- 
sign of  the  subject.  These  determine  the  character  of 
divisions,  and  therefore  to  make  them  uniform  and  rigid 
would  be  to  destroy  the  free  development  of  thought. 
This  rule  forbids  all  stereotyped  character  of  divi- 
sions. "  The  best  practical  rule  for  a  preacher  would 
seem  to  be,  not  to  tie  himself  to  any  uniform  method 
at  all.  Many  men  have  many  minds,  and  many  sub- 
jects require  different  modes  of  discussion.  As  a  rule, 
we  strongly  incline  to  some  form  of  announced  division. 
It  may  be  set  forth  either  in  a  continuous  sentence,  or 
by  the  more  strongly  marked  numerical  breaks,  according 
as  the  nature  of  the  subject  may  require  ;  but  it  should 
always  be  with  sufficient  distinctness  for  the  hearer  to  un- 
derstand the  general  drift  of  the  argument,  what  is  the 
lesson  to  be  enforced,  or  what  is  the  truth  which  is  to  be 
proved.  In  the  case  of  the  extemporaneous  speaker, 
especially,  a  well  staked-out  course  of  thought,  with 
definite  halting-places,  seems  almost  indispensable.  Un- 
premeditated forms  of  illustration  may  suggest  them- 
selves, in  the  course  of  preaching,  which  it  were  a  bond- 
age not  to  yield  to.  Yet  he  must  not  suffer  them  to 
carry  him  too  far  away  ;  and  the  taking  up  of  one  of  these 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         389 

announced  heads  both  facilitates  and  indicates  his  coming 
back.'" 

The  preacher  should  guard  against  two  extremes,  of  a 
pedantic  mannerism,  running  all  sermons  into  one  plan, 
and  of  a  too  vaguely  announced  plan,  or  what  may  be 
called  "  the  flowing  or  faintly  indicated  announcement." 
In  the  last,  which  is  the  modern  tendency,  the  preacher 
may  get  half  through  his  sermon  before  the  qiiorsiun 
tendit  is  discovered. 

2.  Divisions  should  be  made  to  comprehend  or  exhaust 
the  contents  of  the  main  proposition.  This  has  regard 
to  the  relations  of  the  division  with  the  theme.  This 
is  the  law  of  completeness  in  divisions  ;  and  as  to  the 
main  divisions  of  the  discourse,  it  is  absolutely  essential. 
Divisions  are  to  the  proposition  what  the  proposition 
is  to  the  text.  As  the  proposition  aims  to  exhaust  the 
text,  divisions  aim  to  take  up  into  them  the  whole  mean- 
ing and  contents  of  the  proposition,  and  to  unfold  the 
whole  substance  of  the  thought  comprehended  in  it. 
Limit  the  proposition  itself,  rather  than  have  it  overrun 
the  divisions.  Divisions  may,  indeed,  sometimes  com- 
prise the  proposition  itself,  presenting  it  in  different  frag- 
ments or  parts,  which  together  form  the  general  theme. 
Thus  one  of  Nettleton's  sermons — subject,  i.  The  de- 
parting prodigal  ;  2.  The  returning  prodigal  ;  without 
any  other  general  proposition. 

3.  Divisions  should  be  governed  by  a  law  of  unity 
which  requires  that  each  division  suggest  or  bear  vital 
relation  to  the  proposition.  This  also  has  regard  to  the 
relations  of  the  division  with  the  theme. 

There  can  be  no  true  theme  which  does  not  com- 
prise  one  generic  truth,    or  one  class  of  truths,  so   that 


'  Moore's  "  Thoughts  on  Preaching,"  p.  loS. 


39°  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

all  its  subordinate  parts  are  but  specific  divisions 
of  ore  general  truth,  and  bear  common  relations  to 
it.  "  The  theme  in  division  is  ever  a  class  ;  and  its 
parts  are  denoted  by  the  terms  species,  varieties,  in- 
dividuals." '  This  subject,  or  theme,  is,  of  course,  made 
up  of  its  own  various  attributes,  bound  together  by  a 
common  law  of  identity  ;  and  in  division,  this  common 
principle  of  the  relation  of  the  specific  parts  to  the  gen- 
eric whole  should  be  strictly  observed.  No  other  prin- 
ciple of  division  should  be  introduced,  thus  causing  con- 
fusion of  ideas  ;  and  only  those  divisions  which  belong 
to  this  single  class  of  ideas  set  forth  in  the  theme  should 
be  introduced.  No  new  classification  of  ideas  should 
arise  under  a  proposition  ^vhich  suggests  one  specific  class 
of  ideas,  or  one  peculiar  kind  of  attributes.  To  speak 
more  generally,  the  one  comprehensive  and  characteristic 
thought  of  the  proposition  should  be  reproduced  in  all 
the  divisions,  and  every  division  should  bear  a  necessary 
and  living  relation  to  this  one  thought,  although  the  par- 
vj,  ticular  points  treated  of  in  each  division  maybe  quite  dis- 
similar as  regards  each  other.  And  the  division  may 
not  always  distinctly  express  the  matter  of  the  proposi- 
tion, but  may  only  suggest  it  ;  yet  it  should  promote  the 
general  result,  and  the  great  moral  truth  or  idea  of  the 
proposition  should  run  through  every  division.  It  should 
be  seen  that  there  is  but  one  bearing  to  all  parts.  The 
subordinate  parts  should  not  efface  the  principal  part,  but 
all  the  divisions  should  be  such  as  will  conduce  to  the 
carrying  out  of  the  principal  idea. 

4.  One  division  should  not  anticipate  or  include  the 
succeeding  one.  This,  and  the  remaining  qualities  of 
divisions  which  we  shall  notice,  have  regard  to  the   re- 


'  Day's  "  Art  of  Discourse,"  p.  89. 


A.VA LYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         39 1 

lations  of  divisions  among  themselves.  The  distinction 
which  separates  into  subdivisions  should  be  real  ;  and 
that  which  enters  into  one  idea,  or  forms  part  of  it, 
should  not  be  made  the  theme  of  a  separate  division. 
Ideas  which  have  a  very  near  relation  to  each  other  should 
not  form  distinct  divisions.  There  should  be  no  blend- 
ing or  confounding  of  subordinate  parts.  If  a  new  part, 
division,  or  thought  is  introduced,  it  should  be  something 
really  new  and  distinct  ;  for  nothing  weakens  a  discourse 
so  much  as  confusion  and  repetition  of  ideas. 

The  error  may  be  sometimes  the  other  way,  and  ideas 
may  be  produced  in  divisions  which  are  absolutely  novel, 
strikingly  incongruous,  and  entirely  trivial,  as  in  a  "  Long 
Vacation"  sermon  preached  by  an  Oxford  University 
preacher  on  the  character  of  Abraham  : 

(i.)  As  a  patriarch. 

(2.)  As  the  father  of  the  faithful. 

(3.)  As  a  country  gentleman.' 

5.  Divisions  should  prepare  the  Avay  for  something  to 
come.  There  should  be  progress  in  them.  Yet,  while 
they  look  forward  to  something  more  to  come,  they 
should  not  anticipate  results,  which  are  reserved  for  the 
development  of  the  sermon,  and  especially  for  the  conclu- 
sion. They  should  not  hinder  or  break  the  continuous  and 
free  movement  of  the  discourse  ;  they  should  rather  aid  it. 

6.  Divisions  belonging  to  the  same  class  should  be 
similar  to  each  other  in  form.  This  gives  a  neat  finish 
to  the  sermon,  and  promotes  unity. 

In   regard  to    the    composition    of    divisions,  which    is 

simply  the    art   of    bringing   into   one  view 

the    several    elements    of    a   given    subject,      °'"P<*s*  '°'' 

of  divisions, 
or  separating  it    into    its  component  parts, 

we  may,  in  order  to  obtain  just  divisions  of  our  theme — 
'  Cox's  "  Recollections  of  Oxford,"  p.   225. 


392  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

1.  Divide  the  whole  general  subject  or  proposition  into 
two  or  several  particular  propositions.  These  may  be 
distinct,  but  true  parts  of  one  theme. 

2.  Separate  the  genus  into  its  different  species.  The 
truths  of  Scripture  are  usually  given  in  a  generic  form, 
and  they  are  thus  capable  of  almost  endless  specification 
and  illustration. 

3.  View  the  truth  in  its  various  appropriate  relations 
or  bearings  to  other  truths.  One  may  be  obliged  to  do 
this  in  order  to  eliminate  the  particular  truth  in  hand, 
and  make  it  stand  out  clear  in  its  own  proper  place  in 
the  field  of  relative  truth. 

4.  Marshal  and  discuss  the  principal  proofs  or  argu- 
ments of  the  theme  in  hand.  A  truth  of  Scripture  stands 
on  its  own  ground  of  inspired  authority  ;  but  even  this 
may  be  strengthened  and  confirmed  by  reasoning. 

5.  Exhibit  the  grand  motives  of  any  given  duty,  or 
proposition  including  such  duty. 

6.  Illustrate  the  fact  or  duty  involved  in  the  subject 
in  various  practical  ways  and  observations  ;  or,  in  brief, 
divisions  may  proceed  by  Classification,  Analysis,  Rela- 
tiojis,  Proofs,  Motives,  and  Illustration. ' 

A  word  might  be  said  here  before  leaving  this  point 
of  the  composition  of  divisions,  upon  the  artificial  sys- 
tem of  "  Topics"  which  comes  down  from  the  school- 
men, and  which,  though  so  artificial,  is  still  worth  re- 
garding for  a  moment.  This  system  might  indeed,  like 
an  old-fashioned  fire-arm,  still  prove  valuable  if  nothing 
better  were  at  hand  ;  but  it  is  artificial,  mechanical,  and 


'  The  sources  of  divisions,  according  to  rhetoricians,  are  manifold. 
One  writer,  for  example,  states  sixteen  of  them.  We  would  refer  the 
reader,  for  different  kinds  of  divisions  which  may  be  employed,  especially 
in  the  textual  sermon,  and  which  are  useful  for  reference  in  composing  a 
sermon,  to  Kidder's  "  Homiletics, "  p.  201. 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         393 

not  to  be  depended  upon.  A  few  of  these  stereotyped 
"  topics,"  or  topical  divisions,  are  the  following,  which 
may  give  some  idea  of  their  nature. 

Thus,  subjects  may  be  treated  according, 
I.)  To  their  origin  ; 

'2.)  Their  nature  ; 

[3.)  Their  effects. 

They  may  also  be  looked  at, 

^l.)  As  to  qualities  ; 

[2.)  As  to  obligations. 

We  may  again  view, 
I.)  The  doctrine,  or  what  is  to  be  believed  ; 

[2.)  The  practice  to  be  derived  from  it. 

We  may  still  again  treat, 

'i.)  The  theory  ; 

^2.)  The  life  ; 


or 


or 


or 


I.)  The  possibility  ; 
2.)  The  reality  ; 
3.)  The  necessity  ; 

I.)  The  past  ; 
2.)  The  present  ; 
3.)  The  future  ; 


I.)  The  beginning; 
^2.)  The  progress  ; 
[3.)  The  end. 

We  may  consider  the  relations  of  a  subject, 
^i.)  To  God  ; 
(2.)  To  ourselves  ; 
[3.)  To  other  men  ; 
or, 

(i.)  As  a  thought  ; 


394  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

(2.)  As  a  word  ; 

(3.)  As  a  work  ; 
or, 

(i.)  The  general ; 

(2.)  The  particular  ; 
or, 

(i.)  The  State  ; 

(2.)  The  Church  ; 

(3.)  The  household  ; 
or, 

(i.)  Man  in  his  nature  ; 

(2.)  Man  as  a  member  of  society  ; 

(3.)  Man  as  a  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Let   us   now  consider  the  order  and  arrangement  of 
divisions.   The  general  principle  which  should 

Order  and  guide  in  this  is,  that  divisions  should  pro- 
ceed  according  to  the  necessity  of  the  sub- 
divisions i^^^>  °^  ^^^  ^^^^  °^  arrangement  which  a  par- 
ticular subject  contains  within  itself  when 
evolved  by  thought  ;  or,  more  specifically,  (i.)  By  an 
order  of  logical  necessity,  as  the  discussion  of  the  nature 
of  the  subject,  and  then  of  its  circumstances  and  proofs, 
or  of  its  what,  how,  and  why.  (2.)  By  an  order  of  inher- 
ent dignity  or  value  of  ideas.  This  may  be  called  the 
natural  order.  (3.)  By  an  order  of  time  ;  e.g.,  reason. 
Scripture,  experience,  would  be  generally  the  best  order, 
because  Scripture  includes  reason,  and  experience,  reason 
and  Scripture.  The  order  of  cause  and  effect  would 
come  under  this  principle.  (4.)  Order  of  progressive 
strength  of  argument.  We  should  advance  from  the 
weaker  to  the  stronger  argument  ;  or,  one  may  begin  with 
the  strong  and  end  with  the  strong,  putting  the  weaker 
arguments  in  the  middle.  (5.)  Order  of  progress  from 
the  abstract  to  the  concrete — from  a  priori  to  a  posteriori 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         395 

— from  arbitrary  ideas  to  the  realized  consciousness  of 
these  in  fact  and  experience.  (6.)  Order  of  personal  in- 
terest. Those  thoughts  and  facts  which  most  nearly  con- 
cern our  hearers  themselves  come  with  more  force  last — 
God,  the  Church,  yourselves.  One  should  so  arrange  his 
divisions  as  to  secure  progressive  interest  and  moral  im- 
pression ;  he  should  bear  down  on  the  individual  con- 
science and  heart. 

As  was  said  of  the  proposition,  each  division  should  be 
plain  and  perspicuous  ;  should  be  clearly  cut  ;  should 
give  complete  sense  by  itself  ;  should  not  be  roo  com- 
monplace or  easy  ;  and  it  should  be  so  announced  as  best 
to  promote  the  clear  progress  of  the  discussion,  and  its 
remembrance  by  the  audience. 

As  to   the   utility  of   numbering   divisions,  and   of  an- 
nouncing numerical  divisions,  the  tendency  is   certainly, 
at  the  present   time,  not  to   announce  divi- 
sions   numerically.      But    if    it    w^ere    not    a       "'".  ^""8^ 

.  divisions, 

paradox    to    say  so,  we    think    a    numerical 

division  is  useful  when  it  is  needed  ;  that  is,  when  it 
makes  more  plain  the  discussion  of  a  truth.  If  a  sermon 
is  to  hide  thought,  or  to  amuse  an  audience,  then,  by  all 
means,  omit  the  formality  of  numbers  ;  yet  if  divisions 
are  useful  at  all,  it  may  be  sometimes  useful  to  number 
them,  and  the  subject  itself  may  demand  it.  But  the 
numbering  impairs  freedom,  and  imparts  a  formal  char- 
acter to  a  discourse  ;  therefore  we  think  it  best  never  to 
number  divisions,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  actually  to 
announce  the  number  of  divisions,  unless  numbers  are 
absolutely  needed  to  make  the  discourse  more  memora- 
ble and  useful  ;  for,  as  says  Quintilian,  "  division  dimin- 
ishes the  appearance  of  strength."  '     Erasmus  speaks  of 


'  "  Institutes,"  B.  ii.  c.  12,  s. 


396  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

too  many  divisions  as  an  unmanageable  crowd,  vitajida 
est  semper  partimn  turba.  Fenelon  also  is  greatly  op- 
posed to  many,  and  to  previously  announced  divisions. 
He  says  they  break  the  continuity  of  thought.  A  ser- 
mon hampered  by  these  restrictions,  he  declares,  is  not  a 
beautifully  well-veined  marble,  but  a  stiff  mosaic.  Let 
us  therefore  look  upon  formal  numerical  divisions  as  a 
disagreeable  necessity,  to  be  avoided  as  often  as  possible, 
not  looking  upon  them  as  the  old  Puritan  preachers  did, 
as  an  essential  beauty.  "  One  Mr.  Lye,  a  minister  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  in  a  sermon  on  i  Cor.  6:17, 
first  explains  the  text  in  thirteen  divisions  for  fixing  it  on 
the  right  basis  ;  and  then  subjoins  fifty-six  additional 
topics.  Another  writer  of  the  same  period,  a  Mr.  Drake, 
published  a  sermon  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-six  divi- 
sions, to  which  are  appended  sundry  queries  and  solu- 
tions ;  the  preacher  telling  us  at  the  end  that  many  im- 
portant particulars  are  passed  over  because  he  wished  to 
limit  himself  to  the  marrow  and  substance  !"  ' 

Those  times  are  passed.  Men  have  less  patience  than 
formerly  for  such  minute  elaboration  of  truth,  such  scho- 
lastic dissecting  and  logic-chopping.  Sermons,  without 
losing  their  thoughtful  method,  must  become  like  other 
natural  rapid  addresses,  in  fact  like  earnest  conversation. 
The  more  intelligent  the  audience  the  less  necessity  of 
formal  numerical  announcement  of  divisions  at  all  ;  but 
where  divisions  are  absolutely  essential  for  the  solid 
mechanism  or  clear  plan  of  a  discourse,  they  should  be 
distinctly  made,  yet  in  a  workman-like  way,  and  the  join- 
tures should  be  concealed  as  neatly  as  possible,  as  nature 
conceals  them.  The  law  of  easy  transition  should  be 
observed. 


'  Moore's  "  Thoughts  on  Preaching,"  p.  105. 


ANAL  VS/S  AXD  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  397 

As  to  the  place,  or  time,  of  announcing  divisions,  this 
may  be  either  before  the  discussion,  during  its  progress, 
or  at  its  close.      The  last  was  frequently  Lu- 
ther's mode.      Generally  speaking,  it  is  best         Place 

....  t     i.1         u      •       •  oi"  time  of 

to    announce    divisions    at    the    beginning, 

announcing 

especially  if  the  sermon  is  of  a  topical  char-      divisions, 
acter.      While  a  cultivated  taste  would  pre- 
fer never  formally  to  announce  divisions,  utility  is  to  be 
placed  before  taste  in  sermonizing. 

To  sum  up  this  whole  matter  we  would  say  that  "  Di- 
vision" is  simply  breaking  up  a  subject  into  its  constitu- 
ent parts.  It  is  exactly  the  opposite  of  "  generaliza- 
tion." It  shows  what  belongs  to  a  subject  by  bringing 
into  distinct  view  its  several  elements. 

It  resolves  the  general  into  the  individual.  Divisions 
from  a  common  centre  trace  differences  outward. 

To  do  this  happily  one  should  be  familiar  with  logic, 
though  in  a  sermon  the  oratorical  method  is  often  pref- 
erable to  the  logical  ;  but  logic  is  at  the  basis  of 
oratory. 

By  neglecting  the  study  of  divisional  arrangement  one 
is  apt  to  produce  what  Paley  calls  "  a  bewildered  rhap- 
sody without  aim  or  effect,  order  or  conclusion."  Good 
divisional  arrangement  gives  to  a  sermon  what  painters 
call  "tone."  The  sermon  which  usually  makes  the  most 
impression  is  that  which  makes  its  points  clear. 

In  extemporaneous  preaching  it  is  chiefly  order  which 
aids  the  memory,  and  lends  force  to  the  discourse. 

Announcing  divisions  is  simply  a  question  of  rhetorical 
propriety,  but  we  should  not  hesitate  to  do  this  if  it  will 
aid  impressiveness  and  clearness.  If  we  err  it  is  better 
to  do  so  on  the  side  of  plainness  than  of  confusion. 


398  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Sec.    18.    The  Development. 

The  development  {Die  Entwickelung)  of  a  sermon  is  the 
whole  body  of  it  as  related  severally  to  the  text,  the  sub- 
ject, the  proposition,  and  the  divisions  which  serve  the 
purpose  of  originating,  marking,  and  limiting  the  devel- 
opment. 

The  development,  in  other  words,  is  the  carrying  out 
and  the  filling  up  of  the  whole  plan,  even  as  the  divisions 
are  the  carrying  out  of  the  proposition,  and  the  proposi- 
tion of  the  text.  It  is  the  actual  treatment  of  the  theme 
in  hand,  the  free  and  living  current  of  thought,  senti- 
ment, and  remark,  after  the  definite  subject  and  the  gen- 
eral outline  of  treatment  have  been  designated.  The 
word  "  body, "  having  in  it  the  vital  organism  and  all 
that  goes  to  make  up  the  living  Avhole  of  the  discourse, 
expresses  what  is  meant  by  the  development  better  than 
any  other  word. 

The  general  character  of  the  development  of  a  dis- 
course is  decided  chiefly  by  the  character  of  the  subject, 
although  the  object,  or  the  main  purpose  we 
What  decides  have  in  view,  has  also  great  influence.      One 

author  indeed  says,  "  The  object   far  more 

development     ,,,.,.,  , 

^  ,  than   the    subject    determmes    the    natural 

discourse,  order  of  our  discourse.  If  our  object  is  to 
convince,  we  must  naturally  seek  the  most 
regular  way  of  advancing  proof  ;  if  to  impress,  we  must 
follow  the  course  of  human  feelings.  Should  we  wish  to 
make  comparisons,  we  must  enumerate  all  the  parts  of 
argument.  Would  we  narrate,  our  clue  then  is  the  suc- 
cession of  events.  Thus  then,  each  has  its  peculiarity, 
and  the  only  art  is  to  get  at  the  true  nature  of  the  mat- 
ter in  hand."'     There  may  also  be   different    modes  of 

'  "  Manse  of  Mastland." 


ANAL  VS/S  AXD  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         399 

development  of  the  same  text  according  to  our  object  ; 
we  may  treat  it  in  a  logical  or  a  popular  way,  a  textual 
or  a  topical  method.  But  the  subject,  nevertheless,  as 
we  should  naturally  suppose,  determines  its  own  method 
of  treatment  and  exerts,  therefore,  the  chief  influence 
upon  the  development  of  the  theme  in  hand. 

There  are  many  methods  of  development  laid  down  by 
different  authors  ;  thus  Moore  treats  of  the  development 
of  a  sermon  by  amplification,  or  the  expan- 
sion of  the  leading  thought  of  the  text  ;   by       Various 

...  ,  ,  .  ,  ^  methods  of 

imphcation  ;  by  observation  ;    by  coniirma-    .      . 

tion  ;  by  argumentation  ;  and  by  investiga- 
tion.' 

In  order  not  to  enter  into  unnecessary  and  confusing 
detail  here,  we  will  confine  ourselves  to  the  more  common 
nomenclature,  and  will  say  a  few  words  on  five  principal 
modes  of  discussion  or  development  :  the  Expository  ; 
the  Illustrative  ;  the  Argumentative  ;  the  Persuasive  ; 
and  the  Meditative. 

I.    Expository    development.       If    indeed    one    of    the 
great  aims  of  preaching  is  to  instruct  or  edify  the  people 
in  scriptural  truth,  then  expository  preach- 
ing, in   bringing   before   the   people   a  large       ^P°si  ory 

development, 
amount  of   truth  and   a  wide  scope  of   scrip- 
tural knowledge,  and  in  compelling  the  preacher  himself 
to  study  the   Scriptures   comprehensively,  is  one    of  the 
most  valuable  kinds  of  sermonizing,  if  not  the  most  valu-  Ar 
able.      Expository  preaching  ends  in  making  a  passage  of 
Scripture  plain  to  the  hearer's  mind  and  heart,  i.e.,  not 
only  in  making  the  ancient  truth  clear,  but  in  bringing  it 
into  the  living  present,  in  drawing  out  its  varied  lessons 
to  the  soul.      It  is  not  simple  exposition,  but  it  is  the  ex- 


'  "  Thoughts  on  Preaching,"  pp.   96-99. 


400  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

pository  sermon,  or  the   real   use  and  adaptation  of  the 

truth  that  has  formed  the  subject  of  exegesis. 

Expository  sermons  may  be  of  two  kinds  : 

(^.)  A  simple    exposition    of    the   several   clauses  of  a 

passage  of  Scripture  in  their  order.      This  is 

xposi  ory    ^ggf^J  when  the  portion  of  Scripture  is  frag- 
sermons 
oftwok'nds    ^^ntary,   and    affords    no    very    continuous 

thread  of  argument,  and  also  when  there  are 
difficulties  and  ambiguities  in  the  text  to  be  critically  ex- 
plained. Such  sermons  may  embrace  the  exposition  of  a 
single  passage  of  Scripture,  or  of  a  whole  book  of  Scrip- 
ture in  the  exact  order  of  passages.  In  such  a  sermon 
the  lesson  or  the  application  generally  follows  the  exe- 
gesis of  each  passage,  in  the  order  in  which  it  occurs. 
This  kind  of  discourse  is  more  truly  a  simple  exegetical 
lecture  or  running  commentary  than  a  finished  sermon  ; 
yet  it  was  the  method  of  Chrysostom  and  Augustine,  and 
of  the  early  preachers. 

{b^j  The  setting  forth,  after  the  exposition,  of  the 
whole,  of  the  definite  truth  or  truths  which  the  passage 
thus  explained  conveys,  especially  in  the  way  of  practical 
observations  and  lessons.  This  comes  nearer  than  the 
other  mode  to  the  topical  form  of  discourse,  but  it  re- 
quires a  lengthened  exposition,  w^hich  really  forms  the 
body  of  the  sermon.  Chalmers's  lectures  on  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans  are  fine  examples  of  this  kind  of  exposi- 
tory preaching  ;  he  shows  the  connections  of  thought  be- 
tween many  detached  passages,  and  develops  their  truth 
in  more  general  practical  propositions.  This  mingling 
of  the  textual  and  topical  styles  is  perhaps  the  most 
profitable  and  instructive  method  of  preaching,  as  well 
as  the  most  popular  and  interesting.  Were  it  more  gen- 
erally adopted,  it  would  infuse  a  new  life  into  our  ser- 
mons. 


A.VALVS/S  AND  COMPOSITIOX  OF  SERMON:         401 

Some  preachers  fail  to  make  expository  preaching  in- 
teresting by  their  extremely  dry  and  barren  manner  of 
treating   the  Scriptures.     They  bring  their  \f  J 

exegetical    process,  instead    of    its    results,     Reasons  of 

,  ,    .  failure  in 

mto  the  pulpit. 

'■  expository 

"  In  this  kind  of  preaching  you  should  preaching, 
take  up  your  subjects,  and  treat  them  in  a 
free,  popular  manner,  and  never  exegetically,  as  in  the 
schools.  In  your  private  study,  and  for  your  own  bene- 
fit, cut  and  trim  an  exegesis  as  much  as  you  will  ;  but 
never  think  of  carrying  your  pruning  knife  and  grafting 
tools  into  the  desk  with  you  ;  or,  if  you  do,  keep  them 
out  of  sight.  Common  minds  love  to  see  good  work 
when  it  is  done,  but  they  dislike  the  labor  of  doing  it 
themselves,  and  the  tedium  of  standing  by  to  see  how 
others  do  it."  ' 

Other  preachers  fail  in  expository  preaching  because 
they  have  no  skill  in  grasping  and  grouping  ideas,  and 
the  sermon  has  no  unity  as  a  work  of  art,  and  more  than 
all,  it  leaves  no  definite  impression.  It  is  but  a  stringing 
together  of  short  explanations,  without  recognizing  the 
deeper  connections  of  parts,  the  law  of  combination,  the 
hidden  root  of  doctrine. 

But  the  reason  why  preachers  most  commonly  fail  in  J 

expository  preaching  is,  that  they  do  not  put  stud}' 
enough  into  it  ;  they  do  not  give  close  thought  to  the 
exegesis  of  the  passage,  to  make  it  full  and  rich.  They 
think  they  can  *'  get  up"  an  expositor)' sermon  in  a  short 
time  ;  whereas  that  method,  above  all,  requires  original 
investigation,  and,  perhaps,  more  close  and  searching 
study  than  any  other,  for  in  it  there  is  less  left  to  inven- 
tion. 

True  expositor\'  preaching  is,  as  we  have  said,  profit- 

'  "  New  Englander, '■  Jan.  1866. 


402  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

able  to  the  preacher  himself,  because  it  enriches  his  scrip- 
tural knowledge,  and  leads  him  deep  into  the  word  of 
God.  It  gives  him  broad  views  of  revealed  truth,  it  teaches 
him  to  read  the  sacred  writings  in  a  connected  way,  and 
it  follows  out  an  inspired  train  of  thought  or  argument 
sometimes  through  a  whole  book.  It  prevents  him,  also, 
from  misapplying  and  misusing  individual  texts,  by  tak- 
ing them  out  of  their  right  relations.  It  lends  variety  to 
preaching,  and  does  not  shut  it  up  to  a  few  doctrinal  sub- 
jects ;  it  ranges  through  the  broad  fields  of  the  word, 
and  goes  from  theme  to  theme,  as  the  stream  of  revela- 
tion flows  on  through  the  varied  regions  of  divine  truth. 
Expository  preaching  may  lose  its  interest  by  being  made 
too  formal,  by  becoming  too  orderly  and  topical,  by 
drawing  out  the  truths  of  a  passage  into  propositions  too 
distinct  and  rigid  ;  whereas  the  mind  of  the  preacher 
should  hover  around  the  passage,  should  recur  to  it  again 
and  again,  should  (as  has  been  said)  suck  the  sweetness 
from  it  like  a  bee  ;  should,  in  ever  nearer  and  more  pene- 
trating ways,  draw  out  its  life  and  exhaust  its  deep  and 
precious  meaning.  Exhaust,  did  we  say  ?  That  would 
be  impossible  ;  for,  after  all  the  preaching,  how  much 
there  is  still  in  the  divine  word  which  is  fresh,  unex- 
plored, and  almost  entirely  unknown  !  Expository 
preaching  also  suggests  numberless  subjects  for  sermons. 
It  gives  an  opportunity  to  remark  upon  a  great  many 
themes  on  which  one  would  not  desire  to  preach  a  whole 
sermon,  and  it  also  gives  an  opportunity  sometimes  to 
administer  salutary  reproof  in  an  indirect  way.  It  is,  in 
fact,  the  most  free  and  practical  method  of  preaching  ;  it 
comes  home  to  the  heart  the  quickest.  It  is,  above  all, 
feeding  the  people  with  the  "  bread  of  life,"  with  real 
biblical  nutriment,  with  that  spiritual  food  which  all  souls 
need,  and  which  this  age  and  every  age  requires.      There 


AXALYS/S  AXD  COMPOST TIOX  OF  SEKMOX.         403 

is  also  in  it  less  of  the  exclusively  human  element  than  in 
topical  preaching  ;  the  Holy  Spirit  seems  to  suggest  and 
to  provide  the  materials  for  the  sermon.  It  is,  therefore, 
a  good  change  from  the  logical  method,  where  the  form 
often  tyrannizes  over  the  substance  ;  and  a  mingling  of 
the  two  methods  of  topical  and  expository  preaching  will 
serve  to  correct  the  false  tendencies  of  both.  Dr.  John 
M.  Mason's  remarks  maybe  quoted  on  this  point,  though 
they  should  be  received  with  some  reservation.  He  says, 
"  Do  not  choose  a  man  who  always  preaches  upon  insu- 
lated texts.  I  care  not  how  powerful  or  eloquent  he  may 
be  in  handling  them.  The  effect  of  his  power  and  elo- 
quence will  be,  to  banish  a  taste  for  the  Word  of  God,  + 
and  to  substitute  the  preacher  in  its  place.  You  have 
been  accustomed  to  hear  that  word  preached  to  you  in 
its  connection.  Never  permit  that  practice  to  drop. 
Foreign  churches  call  it  lcctiiri)ig  ;  and  when  done  with 
discretion,  I  can  assure  5-ou  that,  while  it  is  of  all  exer- 
cises the  most  difificult  for  the  preacher,  it  is,  in  the  same 
proportion,  the  most  profitable  for  you.  It  has  this 
peculiar  advantage,  that  in  going  through  a  book  of 
Scripture,  it  spreads  out  before  you  all  sorts  of  character, 
and  all  forms  of  opinion,  and  gives  the  preacher  an  oppor- 
tunity of  striking  every  kind  of  evil  and  of  error,  without 
subjecting  himself  to  the  invidious  suspicion  of  aiming 
his  discourses  at  individuals."  ' 

2.    Illustrative  development.      Under  this  form   come, 
(i.)   The   historical   sermon  ;    (2.)  The    bio- 
graphical ;  (3.)  The  descriptive  ;   (4.)  Those    ^""strative 
^ ,  '   ^^  '  ^  '    VH-  ;  development, 

discourses  which    are    mainly   formed    upon 

natural,  scientific,  or  even  symbolical  and  figurative  illus- 
tration ;  (5.)  Allegorical. 

'  See  Stanley's  "  Life  of   Dr.  Arnold,"   on  his  method  of   "  Exegetical 
Preaching"  (Scribner's  edition),  v.  i.  p.  194,  seq. 


404  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

The  historical  sermon  has  reference  to  the  illustration 
of  truth  by  the  proof  and   evolution  of  facts,  rather  than 
of  words  or  ideas. 

^    ,  As  the  Bible   is   pre-eminently  a  book    of 

historical 

sermon  '  '^^ts,  and  has  a  noble  historical  develop- 
ment in  itself,  this  may  form  a  legitimate 
and  interesting  mode  of  preaching,  as  it  was,  indeed,  the 
method  of  the  apostles.  As  all  men  love  to  see  truth  in 
living  forms,  they  will  listen  with  interest  to  lessons 
drawn  from  sacred  history  and  biography,  which  is,  in- 
deed, the  rich  residuum  of  the  deepest  experience  of  the 
race.  The  great  features  and  facts  of  Paul's  life,  in  con- 
nection with  the  old  religions  and  civilizations  of  the  age 
in  which  he  lived,  cannot  fail  to  arrest  attention,  and  lead 
to  nobler  and  higher  thought.  We  are  not  to  become 
simply  historians  in  the  pulpit,  but  to  set  forth  and  im- 
press the  higher  truth  through  the  living  lessons  of  his- 
tory, of  all  history,  not  only  that  of  the  Bible  times 
and  personages,  but  of  man,  and  of  the  Church  in  all  ages 
— of  the  great  facts  and  events  of  modern  days  bearing 
upon  the  spiritual  welfare  of  man  and  the  interests  of 
Christ's  kingdom  in  the  earth.  Protestant  preaching  has 
doubtless  lost  something  here  ;  and,  in  this  respect,  we 
may  learn  a  lesson  from  the  Roman  Catholics  ;  they 
choose,  as  themes  for  illustrative  preaching,  the  times 
and  examples  of  eminent  Christians,  both  ancient  and 
modern. 

This  kind  of  preaching  has  its  own  mode  of  developing 
a  subject,  and  allows  of  a  more  discursive  and  generaliz- 
ing method.  It  permits  a  freer  use  of  the  imagination, 
where  it  does  not  transcend  the  bounds  of  truth.  It  per- 
mits the  drawing  of  various,  and  sometimes  unaccus- 
tomed, remarks  and  lessons  from  the  facts  evolved — les- 
sons often   of  a  homely,  personal,  and   direct    kind.      It 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  405 

has  been  said  that  "  Demosthenes'  arguments  were 
Demosthenes'  facts  ;"  and  so  the  argument  of  every  ser- 
mon should  rest  soHdly  on  facts. 

This  species  of  sermon  has  aheady  been  spoken  of 
under  the  topic  of  the  interpretation  and  handHng  of 
texts. 

Biographical   sermons,  applying  the   scriptural    axiom 
that  "  as  face  answereth  to  face,  so  the  heart  of  man    to 
man,"  are,  if  well  composed,  of  great  didac- 
tic value,  and  give  opportunity  for  dramatic      '°S''^P  *" 

sermons, 
impression  bearing  forcibly  upon    the  con- 
science.    It  is  truth  run  into  living  forms.     The  "  QEdipus 
Tyrannus"    and     the     "  Antigone"    have    had    more    of 
moulding  influence  upon  the  moral  character  of  men  and 
nations  than  have  Aristotle's  "  Ethics." 

Descriptive  preaching  should  not  be  too  frequently 
used,  but  if  a  man  have  power  in  word-painting  he  can 
find  good  use  for  it  in  the  pulpit. 

But  illustrative  preaching  is,  naturally,  chiefly  preach- 
ing by    illustrations  ;   and   we  would  speak 

a  word  more  especially  of  the  use  of  illus-  ° 

.      ^.  .  ,  .  T-i        •     I-    •  illustrations 

trations    m   preacnmg.      Ihe   judicious    use  •  .  . 

of  illustrations  is  to  be  highly  commended. 
When  Christ  pointed  to  the  lilies  of  the  field  by  way  of 
interpreting  moral  and  spiritual  truth,  he  opened  the 
volume  of  the  visible  world  to  the  preacher,  as  a  reve- 
lation of  God  full  of  spiritual  types.  In  like  manner 
the  Psalms,  and  especially  the  book  of  Job,  are  drawn 
from  the  evidences  of  the  divine  working  in  and  through 
living  things.  They  teach  from  the  known  to  the  un- 
known, from  the  visible  to  the  invisible. 

The  true  preacher  is  shown  in  his  ability  to  body  forth 
spiritual  ideas  in  forms  that  may,  as  it  were,  be  seen  and 
handled.     This  is  to  take  truth  out  of  its    hidden  rela- 


4o6  IIOMILETJCS    PROPER. 

tions  and  make  it  distinctly  seen  by  the  most  simple 
mind.  This  is  putting  the  abstract  into  the  concrete, 
which  is  the  form  of  life.  If  the  illustrations  are  fresh 
and  vivid  they  light  up  a  sermon,  and  aid  both  its  inter- 
est and  comprehension.     Illustrations  should  be — 

{a.')  Real,  i.e.,  true  to  fact,  and  true  to  things  that  do 
exist  or  might  exist.  They  should  not  relate  to  things 
that  are  unreal  and  fanciful. 

(/;.)  Common,  or  suggested  by  objects  that  lie,  as  it 
were,  in  one's  pathway,  at  home  with  him,  or  about  him  ; 
picked  up  when  he  walks  through  the  streets  and  over  the 
fields,  or  as  he  mingles  in  the  common  business  and  occu- 
pations of  life.  While  there  may  and  should  be  true 
poetry  in  preaching,  yet  illustrations  should  not  be 
merely  poetical  or  beautiful,  drawn  simply  from  the 
imagination,  or  even  from  the  imagined  history  of  the 
past,  but  rather  from  actual  things  in  life,  so  that  they 
form  in  themselves  analogues  and  arguments.  An  illus- 
tration from  the  last  war  in  America  is  better  than  one 
from  the  Punic  wars.  An  illustration  from  a  black- 
smith's shop,  or  a  carpenter's  bench,  is  better  than  one 
from  Vulcan's  smithy  or  the  realms  of  cloud-land.  All 
life  and  fact,  and  the  thousand  forms  and  events  of  real 
being  and  action,  are  open  to  the  preacher  of  truth. 
Everything  real  should  become  a  winged  vehicle  of 
truth.  The  old  preachers  and  prophets  possessed  this 
faculty  of  perceiving  the  spiritual  sense  in  the  homeliest 
and  most  natural  things.  From  Isaiah  to  John  Bunyan 
this  has  been  the  special  prophetic  or  preaching  gift. 

(f.)  Drawn  from  Nature  itself.  Nature  becomes  an 
organ  for  the  preacher  of  truth  to  play  upon  ;  and  he 
who  penetrates  into  this  symbolism  of  Nature  has  a 
deeper  insight  into  spiritual  things  than  the  merely  pro- 
saic reasoner. 


AYAL  VSIS  AXD  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMOAT.  407 

Illustrations  thus  true,  fresh,  homely,  natural,  forcible, 
form  an  element  of  preaching  that  may  be  called  its 
vital  expression,  and  which  is,  after  all,  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  stating  truth  itself  in  such  real  forms  that  it 
comes  home  to  the  mind  with  living  power,  and  delights 
and  fastens  it  as  with  a  nail.  Old  truths  are  brought  out 
in  new  lights.  Abstruse  subjects  become  picturesque. 
The  most  metaphysical  discussion  beats  with  the  life- 
blood  of  the  present.  There  is  to  be  found  divine  in- 
struction in  everything.  The  elements  of  common  sense, 
truth,  reasonableness,  shrewdness,  wit,  and  sagacity,  skill, 
sympathy,  and  humanity,  are  in  such  preaching.  It  is  no 
longer  dry  and  technical  but  is  full  of  nature  and  the  human 
element.  We  should  assuredly  cultivate  this  "  nature- 
preaching,"  as  the  Germans  call  it,  this  power  of  homely 
illustration  that  causes  the  present  actual  to  throw  light 
on  the  past  actual,  that  interests  men  and  makes  the 
people  a  part  with  yourself,  that  strikes  the  real  current 
of  their  thinking,  that  speaks  as  if  speaking  out  of  their 
own  thought.  Mr.  Spurgeon  has  this  popular  illustra- 
tive power.  Dr.  Bushnell  had  it  in  a  more  lofty  and 
ideal  use  of  Nature.  Savonarola,  WycHf,  Latimer,  Lu- 
ther, Chrysostom  had  it  ;  the  apostle  Paul  made  use  of 
it  ;  and  above  all,  our  Lord  himself. 

Allegorical  preaching  is  hardly  fitted  to  the  Occidental 

taste,  though  much  practised  in  Europe  during  the  Middle 

Ages,  and  later  still  in  England.    It  has  in  the 

past,  as  we  have  seen,  led  to  great  abuses  and          egonca 
....  ,  ^  preaching, 

puerilities  ;  but  of  our  Saviour  it  is  said,  that 

"without   a   parable   spake  he   not   unto  them."     Truth 

was  indeed  too  precious  a  jewel  to  be  presented  pure  and 

simple  to  an  unbelieving  age.     So   it   may  sometimes  be 

now.     This  was  the  method  of  John  George    Hamann, 

the  German  apologist  for  Christian  faith   in  the  times  of 


408  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

the  height  of  German  neological  scepticism.  In  a 
grotesque  view  of  this  fact  the  author  of  "  Sartor  Re- 
sartus"  wrote  his  obscure  enigmas  and  taught  righteous- 
ness in  ironical  allegory. 

3.     Argumentative    development.       This    is    to    con- 
vince the  judgment  by  bringing  out  and  establishing  the 
truth  through  proof  and  evidence.     Thus  in 
Argumenta-    ^^^    ^^^^    ..  ^  ^^^^   ^^    ^^^    saved,"    the 

tive  .  ,         1  ,  , 

develoD    ent    argumentative   development    would    reason 

upon  and  show  the  truth  of  this  ;  while  the 
expository  development  would  simply  set  forth  the  scrip- 
tural account  of  the  method  of  salvation  by  grace,  and 
the  illustrative  development  would  exemplify  it.  All 
subjects  are  not  fitted  for  the  argumentative  develop- 
ment, although,  perhaps,  reasoning  may  be  applied  to 
any  subject  which  admits  of  being  true  or  false  ;  but  doc- 
trinal subjects — those  which  contain  scriptural  teaching, 
that  may  be  confirmed  by  reasons  and  proofs — are  the 
chief  subjects  for  argumentative  development. 

This  method  also  has  its  advantages  ;  indeed  many 
writers,  among  them  Dr.  Fitch,  prescribe  it  as  the  best 
and  invariable  method  of  sermonizing.  Argument  im- 
presses truth  already  believed,  and  convinces  of  truth  not 
before  believed.  An  enlightened  faith  rests  on  proper 
grounds  of  evidence,  either  external  or  internal,  and  the 
more  fully  these  grounds  are  set  forth,  the  more  firmly 
established  will  be  the  faith. 

Argument  is  also  often  useful  in  arousing  the  feelings. 
The  mind  becomes  interested  in  a  truth  which  is  capable 
of  clear  proof,  and  it  is  overcome  by  the  spiritual  weap- 
ons of  reason  and  truth.  The  most  successful  preachers, 
as  instruments  of  producing  immediate  conversion,  the 
most  successful  revival  preachers^  are  often  at  first 
severely  argumentative,  thereby  gaining  power  to  bear 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  409 

down  forcibly  upon  the  conscience  and  heart.  The  argu- 
mentative style  of  sermon  is  so  common  with  us  in  New 
England  that  we  usually  speak  of  the  "  body"  or  "  de- 
velopment" of  the  discourse  as  "  the  argument." 

The  argumentative  development  of  a  sermon  is  of  two 
kinds  :  the  indirect  and  the  direct.  i.  The  indirect. 
Under  this  comes,  (rt.)  The  refutation  of  The  indirect 
objections.  This  should  generally  be  in  the  argument, 
first  part  of  the  body  of  a  discourse,  because  the  last 
words  should  be  the  strongest,  and  should  leave  a  posi- 
tive impression.  When  the  objections  are  trivial,  they 
need  not  be  noticed  ;  but  when  they  are  real,  and  pre- 
sent truly  intellectual  difficulties,  it  is  best  to  discuss  them 
one  by  one.  Refutation  removes  the  obstacles  and  clears 
away  the  rubbish,  before  we  begin  to  build  the  argu- 
ment. And  there  is  nothing  like  grappling  with  an 
antagonist  to  excite  interest,  for  man  naturally  loves 
fighting,  and  almost  every  one  is  more  forcible  in  refuting 
than  in  proving.  But  the  preaching  should  not  stop  at 
the  refutation  ;  for  Christianity  is  not  a  negative  system 
— it  is  full  of  reasons. 

In  refutation,  good  sense  dictates  that  wc  should  be  care- 
ful to  be  candid,  since  in  this  way  we  gain  the  confidence 
of  our  hearers  when  we  proceed  to  the  proof.  We  may  gain 
an  advantage,  sometimes,  in  turning  an  objection  into  a 
proof  ;  we  thus  carry  the  war  into  Africa.  But  no  trifling 
objections  should  be  stated.  No  time  should  be  spent 
in  demolishing  men  of  straw.  And  above  all  things, 
acrimony  in  refuting  opposing  arguments  should  be 
avoided,  {b.^  The  hypothetical  form  of  argument.  This 
is  another  form  of  indirect  argument.  It  consists  in 
bringing  up  several  different  forms  of  suppositions,  begin- 
ning with  the  least  plausible  ;  and,  by  discussing  and  dis- 
proving these  in  succession,  you  lay  the  way  for  the  one 


410  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

which  you  wish  to  establish.  Thus  the  doctrine  of 
human  sinfuhiess  may  be  proved  by  gradually  annihi- 
lating the  various  hypotheses  of  human  goodness  which 
men  adduce  for  their  own  escape  from  this  humbling  and 
consuming  truth,  and  by  leaving  it  as  the  only  possible 
truth.  (<;.)  The  serial  or  gradual  argument.  This  form 
of  indirect  argument  begins  with  some  distinct  and  com- 
mon truth,  that  is  readily  conceded  by  your  hearer,  and 
then  comes  up  by  making  the  predicate  of  one  proved 
truth  the  subject  of  another,  until  what  you  wish  spe- 
cially to  prove  presents  itself  in  an  irresistible  form,  as  a 
The  direct  foregone  conclusion.  2.  The  direct  method 
argument,  of  argument.  This  consists  in  the  adducing 
of  direct  and  positive  proof.  The  subjects  of  pulpit  dis- 
course are  commonly  those  which  come  under  the  general 
department  of  moral  evidence.  This  permits,  and  even 
requires,  proof.  Proof  is  that  mental  act  or  process  by 
whifh  we  arrive  at  certainty  or  something  like  certainty, 
in  our  judgments  respecting  truth  ;  and  when  the  argu- 
ment relates  strictly  to  truth,  or  to  fact,  the  proofs  are 
called  reasons  ;  when  it  is  concerning  right,  or  duty, 
they  are  called  motives.  Argument  deals  chiefly  with 
the  first,  or  with  reasons. 

As  to  the  sources  of  proof,  they  are  commonly  divided 
into  two  classes,  mediate  and  immediate,      i.  The  imme- 
diate are  those  which  spring  from,  {a.')  Con- 

bources  o     gciousness,  or   that    which    appeals    to    the 
proof.  .  .  ^  ^ 

internal  sense  of  right  in  the  mere  statement 

of  a  truth,     {b.^  Perception,  or  that  which  is  the  object 

of  our  own  observation  as  regards  cause   and  effect — as, 

poison  kills,     (r.)  Testimony,  or  the  related  perceptions 

of  others — in   fact,  a  common  and  universal  perception. 

(</.)  Intuition,   which    pertains  to    the    apprehension   of 

abstract    truths — as    purely   mathematical    and    rational 


\ 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  41  i 

truths  that  arc  the  objects  of  spontaneous  behef,  because 
the  reasons  for  them  exist  in  the  mind  itself. 

Dr.  Fitch  would  add  to  these  Common  Sense,  which  is 
a  kind  of  induction  from  general  grounds  of  human  thought 
and  observation.  2.  The  mediate  sources  of  proof  arc 
those  which  are  founded  upon  the  principle  that  all  truth 
is  one,  and  that  its  various  parts  have  essential  relations 
to  each  other.  This  admits  of  reasoning  from  what  is 
known  to  what  is  unknown — from  what  is  established  to 
what  is  to  be  established  ;  in  a  word,  if  such  and  such 
things  are  true,  other  things  must  be  true  :  it  is  the  usual 
method  of  deductive  reasoning. 

We  would  make  two  or  three  suggestions  in  relation  to 
the  strictly  argumentative  development  of  a  discourse  : 

(i.)  In   taking  an   argumentative  position 

one   should   be   sure  that  it  is  a  strong  one.    Suggestions 

r-r^-,  •        ,1  •     J.1      L      •       •  1.      u  in  relation  to 

ihe  premise   taken   m  the  begmnmg  should 

argumentative 
be   thoughtfully  taken  ;    and   the  truth  you  development. 

seek  to    establish   should   be  fairly  reasoned 

out,  or  be  capable  of  being  reasoned  out,  and  not  be  a 

mere  assumption. 

(2.)  In  the  arrangement  of  an  argument  one  should 
exercise  great  judiciousness  and  care.  One  should  ob- 
serve the  two  great  principles  of  attending  to  the  force  of 
probability  that  unites  the  proof  to  the  conclusion,  and 
to  the  right  connection  among  the  arguments  themselves. 

Without  entering  into  all  the  rules  upon  the  method 
and  order  of  argumentative  preaching,  we  would  just 
notice  the  common  argument  from  the  Scriptures.  As  a 
general  rule,  when  the  direct  testimony  of  Scripture 
forms  a  part  in  a  series  of  arguments,  it  should  occupy 
the  first  place.  If  the  series  relates  to  God,  it  should 
always  be  first — r.^.,  "  the  veracity  of  God  ;"  the  natural 
and  true    order   would    be,  i.   His    own    word   as   to  his 


412  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

veracity.  2.  His  conduct  as  showing  this.  But  in  speak- 
ing of  man  we  should  sometimes  take  this  testimony  of 
God  last,  since  he  is  omniscient  and  infallible.  If  we 
speak  to  unbelievers,  we  may  adduce  Scripture  first,  and 
then  the  proofs  from  reason,  which  are  stronger  in  their 
minds  ;  but  when  we  speak  directly  to  Christians,  the 
Scripture  proof  should  be  used  last.  They  may  distrust 
your  reasoning,  but  they  will  bow  to  the  Scriptures  while 
still  the  reasoning  may  be  useful  in  confirming  the  truth. 

(3.)  The  discourse  should  rarely  or  never  be  exclusively 
argumentative.  Thought  should  not  lose  its  life  by 
going  through  a  strictly  dialectic  process.  The  sermon 
is  not,  after  all,  a  proposition  of  Euclid.  No  part  of  it 
should  be  entirely  disconnected  from  the  will,  the  feel- 
ings, and  the  experience  of  men.  It  should  not  become 
a  matter  of  pure  intellect.  The  preacher  may  in  this  way 
conquer,  but  he  \\\\\  not  convince  nor  convert. 

To  this  suggestion  that  the  sermon  itself  should  rarely 
be  wholly  or  exclusively  argumentative,  might  be  added, 
that  the  general  style  of  preaching  should  not  be  wholly 
argumentative. 

We  want,  often,  simpler  practical  sermons — sermons 
that  do  not  discuss,  but  only  earnestly  express,  religious 
truth  and  feeling  ;  sermons  that  spring  from  the  heart  more 
than  the  head  ;  sermons,  too,  that  have  a  more  attractive 
literary  form  where  the  imagination  plays  freely  ;  ser- 
mons that  cast  aside  the  stiff  robes  of  argumentation,  and 
are  unbound,  spontaneous,  spiritual.  The  preacher  of 
an  argumentative  cast  of  mind  should  especially  guard 
against  the  temptation  of  this  tendency,  and  should  cul- 
tivate freer  forms  of  discourse  ;  and  so,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  illogical  and  sensational  preacher  should  cultivate  a 
severer,  solider  style,  just  as  we  give  mathematics  to  a 
dreamer    to    make    him    think.       As    the   argfumentative 


AXALYS/S  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         4^3 

method  i.Tiplics  the  predominance  of  the  human  over  the 
divine  element  in  preaching,  a  more  cautious  use  of  it, 
and  a  return  to  a  simpler,  less  ambitious,  and  more 
spiritual  manner  of  preaching  are  to  be  commended. 

(4.)  The  argument  should  not  be  too  high  or  abstruse 
for  the  audience.  It  may  be  very  close  and  powerful, 
but  it  should  ground  itself  in  human  nature,  or  in  the 
common  laws,  truths,  and  motives  of  the  human  mind, 
which  all  men  appreciate  and  understand.  It  has  been 
said  that  "  the  foundations  of  argument  in  the  pulpit 
must,  to  a  great  extent,  be  commonplace." 

4.   Persuasive  development.      This,  too,  is  a   kind    of 

argumentative  discussion   for  the  purpose  of  conviction, 

but  it  deals  chiefly  with  motives,  rather  than 

proofs   or   reasons.       It   does    not    end  with       ersuasive 

.  development. 

mere  conviction,  but  rather  with  persuasion. 

It  addresses  the  will  with  motives  of  good,  urging  it 
to  the  performance  of  immediate  duty.  If  the  will  of 
the  hearer  is  opposed  to  the  truth,  the  aim  is  to 
remove  the  will  from  its  present  object  of  choice,  and  to 
fix  it  upon  another  and  true  object  ;  if  the  will  is 
apathetic  or  indifferent,  the  aim  is  to  awaken  it  to  action 
and  choice  ;  if  the  will  is  favorable,  the  aim  is  to  encour- 
age and  strengthen  this  good  purpose.  This  method  of 
development  partakes  somewhat  of  the  hortatory  style  of 
sermon,  being  addressed  to  the  feelings  as  well  as  the 
reason.  It  requires  something  more  than  proof,  since  a 
man  may  be  convinced  by  proof  ;  but  he  must  be  per- 
suaded to  act  and  choose  by  motives.  Few  preachers  can 
afford  to  leave  out  the  persuasive  element.  One  great 
end  of  preaching,  as  we  have  said,  if  not  the  great  end,  is 
persuasion  ;  it  is  not  mere  instruction,  but  persuasion  ;  it 
is  to  persuade  men  to  love  and  obey  God. 

Not  only  the  confessedly  hortatory  sermon,  but  ever>' 


414  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

sermon  should  have  in  it  the  element  of  persuasion, 
should  tend  to  this  end.  "  Now,  then,  we  are  ambassa- 
dors for  Christ,  as  though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us  ;  we 
pray  you  in  Christ's  stead  be  ye  reconciled  to  God. ' '  Cold, 
intellectual,  argumentative,  passionless  preaching,  without 
a  thought  steeped  in  the  heart,  or  an  appeal  warmed  in 
the  emotions,  has  no  precedent  in  apostolic  preaching. 

Knowing  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  the  apostle  persuaded 
men.  Above  all,  the  love  of  Christ  constrained  him  in 
preaching  the  gospel  to  others.  We  must  move  men  to 
act,  we  must  persuade  them  to  obey  the  word  of  the 
Lord.      We  must  bring  them  to  a  choice. 

But  there  must  be  some  ultimate  ground  of  choice,  or 
there  could  be  no  object  or  ground  of  persuasion.  Choice 
implies  the  existence  of  an  alternative.  Now,  it  is  the 
object  of  persuasive  reasoning  to  show  others  the  true 
reasons  and  motives  of  choice,  that,  these  being  fully  set 
before  the  mind,  and  deliberately  weighed,  the  mind  may 
be  led  to  make  the  good  choice.  The  end  of  all  persua- 
sion is  to  show  that  the  greatest  good  lies  on  the  side  of 
duty,  and  thus  to  lead  men  to  do  what  is  right.  The  ob- 
vious means  to  this  are,  presenting  inducements,  consid- 
erations, motives  ;  for  that  which  moves  a  man  to  do  any- 
thing is  a  motive.  Of  course  the  preacher  of  righteous- 
ness can  deal  only  v/ith  good  and  true  motives.  What, 
then,  are  the  sources  of  persuasion  ? 

Vinet  reduces  all  motives  which  the  preacher  can  employ 
to  two — ^goodness  and  happiness — in  fact  to  happiness. 

As  all  human  action  aims  at  some  good,  in  presenting 
the  motive  of  happiness,  one  should  be  care- 
ful to  present  the  supreme   aim   or  the  high 
of  persuasion.         ,  .  j  r 

and  true  idea  of  happiness,  ending  in   the 

blessedness  of  the  Christian  ;  he  should  show  that  good- 
ness and  happiness  are  necessarily  and  finally  united,  are 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         415 

really  one,  and  that  the  old  stoic  axiom,  "  To  be  con- 
scious of  virtue  is  happiness,"  is  realized  in  an  infinitely 
higher  sense  in  the  Christian  life.  There  is  even  a  true 
self-love  which  may  be  justly  appealed  to.  In  fact,  the 
tastes,  desires,  sympathies,  and  affections  of  our  nature — 
all  that  powerful  side  of  our  nature — are  not  to  be  lost 
sight  of,  since  it  is  not  mere  reason  that  moves  men  to 
act  ;  it  is  also  feeling   desire,  affection. 

Nothing  is   more   wonderfully    adapted    to   move  our 
deepest  feelings  than  the  motives  presented  in  the  gospel. 
Christ,  being   lifted    up,  does   draw    all    men    unto  him.  j 
The  attractions  of  the  cross  are  even  greater  than    the 
terrors  of  the  law.     There  is,  however,  the  motive  of  fear 

as  well  as  the   motive    of    love  ;    and   how 

Motive  of 
and    where   to    appeal    to    the    passion   of         ^^^^ 

fear  in  preaching  is  an  interesting  theme. 
Preachers  may  fatally  err  both  in  leaving  it  out  of  ac- 
count and  in  employing  it  unwisely  and  unscripturally. 
One  thing  is  certain,  that  scriptural  preachers  did  appeal 
to  the  motive  of  fear  ;  they  preached  strongly  the  peril 
and  the  condemnation  of  the  obdurately  unrighteous  ; 
and  who  did  this  in  more  tremendous  words  than  Christ. 
We  must  preach  the  law  as  well  as  the  gospel. 
But  the  law  should  be  preached  in  the  right  way,  not 
merely  as  a  system  of  fear,  punishment,  and  condem- 
nation, but  in  its  just  relations  to  the  constitution 
of  the  mind  and  the  principle  of  conscience,  in  order 
to  show  how  the  law  may  be  disobeyed,  and  thus 
how  there  may  be  sin.  In  this  way  the  law  becomes  a 
means  of  conviction.  The  law  should  be  preached, 
therefore,  however  severely  and  terribly,  yet  with  dis- 
crimination, and  should  make  its  appeals  to  the  reason 
and  the  moral  nature  of  men  ;  and  in  this  way  the 
penalties  of  the  law  have  their  proper  efTect. 


41 6  HO  MILE  TICS   PROPER. 

The  apostles  preached  the  condemnation  of  the  law  in 
the  spirit  of  compassion.  They  spoke  this  truth  of 
Christ  in  love.  "  Knowing  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  we 
persuade  men."  They  preached  it  persuasively  as  a  mo- 
tive. As  Christ  spoke  of  the  wrath  to  come,  and  yearned 
to  gather  those  who  rejected  the  mercy  of  God  into  the 
kingdom  ;  as  the  apostle  Paul,  in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  pro- 
claimed with  unfaltering  lips  the  curse  of  those  who  were 
guilty  of  unbelief,  and  yet  wept  when  he  talked  of  "  the 
enemies  of  the  cross  of  Christ,"  so  preachers  should  not 
preach  to  the  fears  of  men  without  true  love  to  men  in 
their  hearts  ;  they  should  not  brandish  the  thunderbolts 
of  the  law  in  one  hand,  without  offering  the  grace  of  the 
gospel  in  the  other.  If  they  fail  to  do  this,  the  persua- 
sive quality  vanishes  from  their  preaching. 

We  would  now  treat  more  specifically  of  those  motives 
of  persuasion  which  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  may  legiti- 
mately employ.     Looking  at  them  as  moral 
Motives      motives,  and  to  such  only  can  the  preacher 
o   persuasion  ^ppg^]^  they  would  come  under   the    three 
oloved      general  heads  of  Happiness,  Duty,  and  Chris- 
tian Virtue  or  Love. 
I.  Happiness.  («.)  Temporal  happiness,  the  lowest  view 
of  happiness,  is  greater  on  the  side  of  righteousness  than 

of  unrighteousness.  The  man  who  has  real 
Happiness.  .    ,  ,  ,  .       , 

uprightness  of  heart  is  the  most  apt  to  se- 
cure human  friendship,  honor,  and  worldly  prosperity, 
and  to  be  successful  in  whatever  he  undertakes  to  do 
with  his  fellow-men.  Religion  has  the  promise  of  this 
life  as  well  as  of  that  to  come.  All  the  sources  of 
heavenly  happiness  itself  are  with  us  as  rational  and 
moral  beings  even  now,  for  these  depend  upon  the  right 
disposition  of  the  heart.  Wherever  God  is,  there  must 
be  happiness.     But  for  every  earthly  or  material  enjoy- 


A.VALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         A^^ 

merit  of  a  lawful  and  not  injurious  nature,  the  good  man, 
as  a  general  rule,  has  a  better  prospect  than  the  bad  man. 
A  long  and  happy  life  is  promised  to  the  obedient  (Ps. 
91  :  16  ;  Deut.  ii  :  21).  Religion  fosters  a  state  of  mind 
conducive  to  soundness  of  body  and  mind,  for  it  leads  to 
an  observance  of  those  laws  by  which  health  is  main- 
tained. It  is  living  and  doing  well.  It  is  the  highest 
reason  in  all  things.  Yet  one  should  be  guarded  here  in 
not  dwelling  exclusively,  as  is  sometimes  done,  on  this 
merely  prudential  range  of  motives  ;  for  often  God  blows 
them  all  away  and  afflicts  the  righteous,  like  Job,  with 
great  and  crushing  sorrows.  Even  the  old  Greek  said 
that  a  man  could  not  rightly  be  called  happy  until  after 
death.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  one  should  not  be  de- 
terred from  employing  this  motive  of  temporal  happiness. 
God  uses  it.  He  has  made  our  natures  for  happiness, 
and  if  we  fulfil  the  true  ends  of  our  being,  if  we  live  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  of  our  normal  nature,  we 
are  happy.  Sorrow  as  well  as  sin  is  an  incident  to  our 
nature,  not  its  original  property.  God,  the  source  of 
joy,  would  pour  joy  through  the  hearts  of  all  his  creat- 
ures, and  human  demerit  alone  diminishes  and  destroys 
this  happiness.  A  legitimate  happiness,  which  may 
thus  be  experienced  even  in  time,  also  springs  from  self- 
approbation  in  well-doing.  He  who  does  a  good  act  is 
rewarded  in  his  own  mind.  This  happiness,  from  the  exer- 
cise of  holy  affections  to  ourselves  and  others  following 
from  virtuous  actions  {oci  nar  apeTi)v  evipysiai),  is  some- 
thing not  liable  to  change,  but  is  lasting  and  inalienable. 
If  happiness  is  thus  a  true  motive  to  persuade  to  good 
action,  then  the  misery  which  accrues  from  the  opposite 
course,  since  it  is  a  dissuasive  from  evil,  operates  as  a 
persuasive  to  good.  The  condemnation  and  misery  of 
wicked   men   form    an    indirect    persuasive  to  goodness. 


4lS  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Just  fear  as  well  as  true  happiness  is  a  strong  motive  to 
right  action.  Both  the  light  and  the  shadow,  the  joy 
and  the  terror,  impel  the  soul  toward  God. 

((^.)  Eternal  happiness  resulting  from  righteous  action. 
He  who  does  the  will  of  God  shall  share  the  blessedness 
of  God,  not  only  in  time  but  in  eternity. 

2.    Duty.      This  deals  essentially  with  the  moral  part 

of  our  nature,  and   appeals   to   motives   that   have   their 

seat   in   the   conscience.      Duty  is  a    higher 
Duty.  .  ^  ^ 

motive    than    happiness.       Call    conscience 

what  we  may,  account  for  its  origin  as  we  may,  it  is  that 
part  or  faculty  of  our  being  which  responds  instinctively 
to  the  law  of  right.  We  call  it,  and  call  it  justly,  the 
voice  of  God  within  us,  because  it  is  that  in  us  which 
answers  to  the  voice  of  our  moral  ruler.  It  thus  rises 
above  the  idea  of  expediency  and  of  happiness.  It  is  an 
unselfish  and  divine  faculty.  It  interprets  and  reiterates 
the  righteous  law.  That  law  would  be  powerless  did  it 
not  appeal  to  the  nature  of  the  mind  itself,  which  is 
made  harmonious  with  and  confirmatory  of  the  law.  We 
cannot  help  acknowledging  the  rightness  of  right,  the 
wrongness  of  wrong.  We  are  so  formed  that  we  must 
feel  that  we  ought  to  do  right,  and  here  is  the  ground  of 
the  law  of  duty.  Here  is  its  great  motive  of  persuasion. 
The  doing  of  right  because  it  is  right,  for  its  own  sake, 
is  the  grand  motive  of  duty  to  which  as  preachers  of 
righteousness  we  can  and  should  ever  appeal.  We  must 
tell  men  that  they  should  do  right  because  it  is  right,  and 
they  will  at  least  feel  the  tremendous  power  of  this 
motive,  and  either  yield  to  it  and  be  saved  or  resist  it 
and  be  condemned.  In  this  appeal  we  have  a  still  more 
potential  and  awful  helper — God  himself  ;  for  God  is  in 
the  conscience  more  intimately  than  in  the  outer  intel- 
lection, and  he  speaks  there  mysteriously  as  from  an  in- 


I 


AiVALYS/S  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SEHMON.         419 

ward  throne,  so  that  what  the  moral  nature  itself  dictates 

to  be  right  is  reinforced  by  all  the  sanction  of  the  divine 

will." 

3.  Christian  virtue  or  love.     The  love  of  God   is  the 

root-principle  of  Christian  virtue.      The  moving  power  of 

the  loving  will  of   God,  made  known  in  his 

Son  Jesus  Christ,  is  the  central  motive  to  be      Christian 

.       ,    ,        ,        „,     .     .  ,  .,  T     T         virtue 

set  forth  by  the  Christian  preacher.  I,  if       or  love 

I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 
The  love  of  God  in  Christ  to  sinners  is,  in  fact,  the 
gospel  itself.  This  is  the  gospel  preachers  are  to  preach. 
Gratitude,  faith,  love,  are  appealed  to  in  the  strongest 
terms.  God  "  first  loved  us" — a  motive  which,  when 
once  realized,  creates  a  soul  under  the  ribs  of  death. 

As  a  natural  and  irresistible  sequence  of  this  divine 
love  toward  us,  human  love,  or  the  Christ-like  love  of 
man  for  man — the  Christian  preacher's  love  for  the  souls 
of  his  hearers — forms  a  strong  motive  to  be  brought  to 
bear  upon  them,  and  through  this  channel  as  it  were  of 
human  love  and  sympathy  the  divine  love  flows.  This  is 
the  secret  of  truly  moving  and  persuasive  preaching. 
One  of  his  boy-hearers  says  of  Dr.  Arnold's  preaching  : 
"  It  was  not  the  cold,  clear  voice  of  one  giving  his  advice 
and  warning  from  serene  heights  to  those  who  were  sin- 
ning and  struggling  below,  but  the  warm,  loving  voice  of 
one  who,  fighting  for  us  and  by  our  side,  and  calling  on  us 
to  help  him  and  ourselves  and  one  another."  Let  us 
cultivate  more  than  we  do  these  holy  afifections  and  pas- 
sions of  the  soul,  this  capacity  of  love  and  this  power  of 
sympathy.  He  who  feels  that  he  himself  is  a  sinner 
saved,  if  saved,  by  the  love  of  God,  and  who  is  thus 
brought  in  true  love  and  sympathy  with  other  sinners  like 


See  art.  "  Theism,"  Brit.  Quar.,  July,  1S71. 


420  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

himself,  will,  like  Paul,  speak  to  them  with  a  power  of 
persuasion  which  is  resistless. 

Another  form,  perhaps,  of  this  love  of  God  to  us,  and 
our  love  to  him,  as  a  motive,  is  the  appeal  to  men  to  live 
to  the  glory  of  God,  in  the  true  sense  of  God's  glory. 
This  is  seeking  the  love  of  God  in  an  unselfish  spirit,  and 
without  reference  to  ourselves  at  all.  This  shuts  out 
heaven  and  quenches  hell.  To  the  true  and  perfect  mind 
this  is  the  highest  motive,  and,  in  one  sense,  the  only 
motive. 

In  these  motives  which  have  been  mentioned,  we  ap- 
peal both  to  the  lower  and  to  the  higher  elements  of  our 
nature — to  our  self-interest,  and  to  the  pure,  unselfish 
principle  of  the  good  of  others  and  the  glory  of  God. 

As  to  the  legitimate  methods  of  persuasion,  whether 

indirect  or  direct,  there  may  be  mentioned 

Methods  r  , , 

as  some  of  them  : 
of  persuasion. 

I.   The  indirect  method  of  the  use  of  dis- 

suasives  to  wrong  action  springing  from  the  evil  which 

will   certainly  accrue.      As  has  been  said,  the  dissuading 

from  evil  is,   in  fact,  one  method  to  persuade  to  good. 

The  evils  and   final  miseries  of  sin  are  the  persuasives  of 

holiness. 

2.  The  indirect  method  of  the  presentation  of  the 
alternative  choice — /.  e.,  if  one  is  not  moved  by  the  good 
consideration  which  is  offered,  he  must  take  the  alterna- 
tive. 

3.  The  use  of  mixed  proofs  and  motives,  blending  the 
argumentative  and  persuasive  forms  of  development. 

4.  The  use  of  direct  motives,  without  any  abstract  rea- 
soning or  circumlocution,  addressed  to  the  simple  end 
to  move  the  will  and  heart.  This  is  comprehended  in 
what  is  usually  termed  the  hortatory  discourse. 

Of  course  our  method  of  persuasion  should  be  adapted 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         421 

to  the  class  of  hearers  we  address  ;  and  we  should  pro- 
ceed in  a  natural  way,  by  first  interesting  the  intellect, 
bringing  out  intelligently  the  motives  of  persuasion, 
showing  their  importance,  and  their  personal  importance, 
and  pressing  them  home  upon  the  heart. 

Vivid  description,  moral  painting,  is  a  powerful  method 
of  persuasion,  in  which  one  is  led  to  see  his  own  heart  in 
the  masterly  delineation  of  character. 

In   striving   to   overcome    prejudices,   before    the    true 

motives  can   be  presented,  there  are  two  methods  :   first, 

to    endeavor    to  do  away  entirely  with   the 

false  impression,  by  showing  how  unjust  and 

.  overcome 

absurd   it    is  ;   and,    secondly,    to   admit  the     prejudices 

feeling,  or  prejudice,  or  passion,  as  having, 
perhaps,  some  ground  for  its  existence,  but  to  give 
it  a  truer  direction.  One  says,  for  instance,  "  If  I  were 
only  a  Christian,  I  would  be  a  better  man  than  some 
Christians  whom  I  know."  Then  press  him  to  be  such  a 
Christian  as  he  boasts  that  he  would  be.  Another  says, 
"  I  am  too  ambitious  to  be  a  follower  of  Christ.  I 
freely  confess  that  I  am  too  aspiring  to  be  thus  lowly  and 
humble."  Then  tell  him  that  Christianity  does  not  ex- 
tinguish the  natural  motive  of  ambition,  but  leads  to  a 
purer  ambition  for  things  truly  great  and  honorable. 

Paul's  reasoning  with  the  Athenians  in  respect  to  the 
**  unknown  God"  is  one  illustration  of  the  skillful  employ- 
ment of  this  kind  of  persuasive  argument,  yielding  as  it 
does  to  the  feeling  or  opinion  of  others  for  the  moment, 
so  far  as  it  is  not  harmful  to  do  so,  in  order  to  use  it  with 
power  for  the  conviction  and  persuasion  of  those  very 
persons,  for  one  docs  not  often  persuade  a  man  to  do 
right  by  proving  to  him  that  he  is  wrong  ;  but  if,  by 
kindly  and  skillfully  showing  him  that  he  is  condemned 
by  himself,  by  his  own  truer  impulses  and  nobler  reason, 


422  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

you  may  convict  him  of  wrong  without  injuring  his  self- 
respect  and  arousing  his  antagonism,  and  you  not  only 
convince  but  persuade. 

What  may  be  termed  the  motive  of  probability — some- 
times used  by  preachers — should  be  employed  very  cau- 
tiously, if  employed  at  all — e.g.,  probably  this  may  be  all 
true  ;  probably  there  may  be  eternal  peril  to  the  totally 
irreligious.  Such  reasoning  is  of  doubtful  character 
and  is  apt  to  cause  injurious  reaction.  It  is  better  to 
preach  the  things  that  are,  or  the  things  that  we  believe 
— whatever  they  are — rather  than  those  that  may  be. 

5.  Meditative  development.  We  will  not  dwell  long 
upon  this.  It  is  of  two  kinds.  It  may  either  signify  a 
sermon  in  which  the  preacher  follows  out  in  a  free,  in- 
formal method  his  own  course  of  quiet  thinking  upon 
some  more  purely  spiritual  theme,  thinking  aloud,  as  it 
were,  and  pursuing  a  monologue  rather  than  making  an 
address  to  others,  revealing  his  experience,  opening  to 
view  the  secret  recesses  of  his  own  mind  and  heart, 
rather  than  reasoning  from  objective  views  and  relations 
of  truth  ;  or,  it  may  mean  a  sermon  founded  upon  a  text 
which  was  originally  a  strictly  meditative  utterance  from 
the  depths  of  the  writer's  religious  experience,  as  many 
of  the  Psalms,  or  portions  of  the  Psalms  of  David,  and 
which,  from  its  contemplative  and  subjective  character, 
naturally  induces  religious  contemplation  and  self-exami- 
nation in  others.  This  meditative  preaching  is  not  mere 
vague  musing,  but  it  is  rather  sinking  down  by  pure 
thinking,  of  a  prayerful  and  devotional  kind,  to  the  in- 
most depth  and  meaning  of  a  subject.  It  arrives  at 
principles  by  contemplation  rather  than  by  logical 
methods,  and  is  a  great  art,  too  rarely  possessed  by 
preachers  of  divine  truth.  If  we  should  hear  the  apostles 
preach  in  these  days,  we  should  doubtless  say  that  the 


A.YA LYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  423 

apostle  John  ^vas  a  meditative  preacher  and  perhaps 
the  profoundcst  preacher  of  them  all.  Yet  this  style 
is  not  greatly  to  be  encouraged  in  ordinary  preachers. 
Where  it  is  literally  subjective,  in  the  sense  of  turning 
the  thoughts  inward  into  the  preacher's  own  mind,  it 
tends  to  weakness.  Objective  preaching,  for  the  great 
mass  of  preachers,  is  the  boldest,  the  safest,  and  decided- 
ly the  most  effective.  It  does  not  deal  in  subtle  refine- 
ments of  thought.  It  takes  the  revealed  word  of  God, 
sees  its  beauty,  draws  forth  its  power,  uses  its  mighty 
forces  of  persuasion,  is  content  with  its  simple  teachings. 

All  these  different  modes  of  development  which  have 
been  mentioned  will,  of  course,  vary  wide- 
ly in    their  form,  style,  and  spirit  ;  but  still      ^"^  '  '^^ 
there  are  some  simple  prmciples  or  qualities  develooment 
which  should  be  found  in  the  development 
of  all  kinds  of  sermons  ;  these  are,  the  qualities  of  unity, 
perfectness,  progress,  and  proportion. 

I.   Unity.     This  has  been  and  will  be  often  mentioned 
in  various  relations  ;  but   it  cannot  be   too  much  urged. 

One    general    aim,    one    main    impression, 
1        1  1     T  -111  •  1-  Unity, 

should,  it  possible,  be  given  to  one  dis- 
course ;  and  this  is  all  we  ought  to  expect  for  one  dis- 
course. This  unity  should  run  through  its  whole  sub- 
stance, and  animate  eveiy  fibre.  This  unity  may  be 
destroyed  by  yielding  to  the  temptation  of  dwelling  too 
long  upon  an  interesting  but  isolated  thought  ;  by  treat- 
ing entirely  diverse  topics  in  one  discourse,  with  no  gen- 
eral principle  uniting  them  ;  by  mixing  up  two  or  more 
similar  thoughts  ;  by  following  out  metaphorical  language 
wearisomely  or  trivially.  Any  discussion,  on  any  of  the 
parts  of  the  sermon,  however  profitable  and  forcible  in 
itself,  which  is  not  pertinent  to  the  main  subject,  impairs 
unity.     Any  discussion  of  a  purely  dialectical  or  theo- 


424  nOMILETICS    PROPER. 

logical  character  should  not  be  carried  out  wearisomely 
or  form  the  exclusive  substance  of  the  sermon.  It  is 
good  for  foundations,  but  there  should  be  reared  upon 
it  a  more  beautiful  superstructure.  "  The  foundations," 
as  another  has  said,  "  should  be  covered  in."  The  whole 
development  should  have  regard  to  every  part. 

2.  Perfectness.      This   regards  the  parts  as  well  as  the 

whole.      There  should  be  freedom   in   carrying  out  every 

part  of  a   discourse   to  its  legitimate  end  of 
Perfectness.    .  ,      .  ,,    i  r    i  i 

mtcrcst,  employmg  all  the  stores  ot  thought 

and  illustration.  This  is  the  portion  of  the  discourse  for 
its  life  to  flow  out  in  fullest  currents,  and  not  to  be  ham- 
pered by  plans  and  rules.  Each  thought  should  be  as 
thoroughly  developed  as  if  there  were  no  other  thought 
in  the  discourse.  The  idea  of  the  main  development 
should  not  override  or  destroy  the  complete  finish,  both 
intellectual  and  literary,  of  each  of  its  parts.  It  is  inter- 
esting where  the  preacher  seems  to  give  unlimited  play 
to  every  faculty  and  every  emotion,  carrying  out  a 
thought  to  its  furthest  ramifications,  drawing  from  all  the 
richness  of  nature  and  life,  and  yet  not  without  a  method 
or  a  sagacious  purpose  which  points  each  illustration, 
guides  each  flight  of  fancy,  and,  while  seemingly  most 
unrestrained,  brings  all  to  bear  with  power  upon  some 
one  practical  truth  or  lesson. 

This  free  development  of  each  of  the  parts,  combined 
with  the  workmanlike  welding  together  of  all  in  one 
whole,  so  that  there  is  no  imperfect,  meagre,  flat,  and  un- 
satisfying portion  of  the  sermon,  constitutes  completeness, 

3.  Progress.  This  has  reference  to  the  right  ordering 
of  thoughts,  so  that  one  thought  should  prepare  for  and 

be  succeeded    by    another   which    forms    an 
Progress.  .  . 

advance  ;    this   secures   an    mcreasmg    mo- 
mentum of  impression.     The  sermon   should  not  repeat 


A.VAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         425 

itself,  or    retrace    its    steps,  but  go   on  with    accelerated 

power  to  the  end. 

4.    Proportion.      This  has  relation  to  the  proportionate 

space  each  part  or  thought  should  occupy  in  regard  to  the 

main  development,   and   to   each   other  part 

Proportion. 
of    the    discourse.      This   gives  balance   and 

symmetry  to  a  discourse.  Vigorous  brevity  is  thus  se- 
cured where  it  is  needed,  and  careful  elaborateness  where 
it  is  essential.  Of  course  the  object  we  have  in  view,  and 
the  peculiar  character  of  the  sermon,  must  decide  this. 
In  an  expository  sermon  the  explanation,  which  is  com- 
monly brief,  becomes  the  elaborate  part  of  the  discourse. 
It  is  a  great  beauty  when  a  preacher  knows  in  what  part 
the  real  pith  of  his  sermon  lies,  and  where  to  lay  out  his 
strength.  This  gives  consistency  to  the  sermon.  The  gen- 
eral idea  of  proportion  is,  that  there  should  be  a  well-made 
and  powerful  body  to  the  sermon.  The  strength  should 
be,  as  it  were,  in  the  lohis  of  the  discourse.  The  sermon 
should  be  thoroughly  compacted,  and  able  to  carry  itself 
nobly  ;  not  a  dwarf  with  a  giant's  head  and  a  feeble  body. 

That  which  is  wanted  in  the  body  of  a  sermon  is  so- 
lidity of  thought,  rapidity  of  discussion,  and  a  spiritual 
earnestness  of  purpose  rising  above  every  merely  intel- 
lectual aim,  and  pressing  the  truth  with  every  reason  and 
motive  drawn  from  time  and  eternity  upon  the  individual 
heart.  There  should  be  an  expanding  fulness  here,  an  un- 
bound, rich,  and  living  thought,  a  development  which  is 
a  real  growth  from  the  germ  of  scriptural  truth  taken 
into  the  fructifying  soil  of  the  soul's  meditation,  ample 
and  beautiful,  and  filled  with  nourishing  fruit. 

We  are  to  regard  also  not  only  what  we  speak,  but  to 
whom  we  speak.  What  are  the  audience  in  the  church 
there  for  ?  In  what  condition  of  heart  and  life  are  they  ? 
"  Men,  as  a  general  rule  feel,  though  feebly,  the  need  of 


4^  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

religion  ;  and  this  common  feeling  or  consciousness  of 
the  need  of  religion  should  be  wrought  upon  and 
awakened  still  more.  Men  do  not  receive  all  that  is 
proved,  but  that  which  agrees  with  their  own  modes  of 
thinking.  The  mind  is  not  closed  against  the  preacher, 
but  only  barricaded.  There  are  two  accessible  ways  to  it, 
j  through  the  conscience  and  the  heart.  The  heart  of  no 
^  man  is  entirely  shut  up  to  nobler  affections  ;  the  criminal 
weeps  at  the  thought  of  his  children." 

We  might  conceive  of  the  ideal  oi  a  Christian  sermon, 

not  yet  attained,  or  not  attained  by  all,  but   which    is 

adapted  to  the  needs  of  our  highest  mod- 

/  e  1  ea       ^^^  civilization,   while  it  does  not    lose  the 

^  sermon.  ... 

earnestness  and  practical  ann  of  the  gos- 
pel. It  is  unpretentious,  devotional,  springing  from  the 
profound  study  of  a  holy  soul  of  the  word  of  God,  with 
Christ  as  the  central,  burning  theme  ;  tender  and  full  of 
love,  but  strong  in  apostolic  faith,  like  the  preaching  of 
masculine  Paul  and  Luther  ;  courageously  hopeful  for  man 
and  filled  with  the  true  "  enthusiasm  of  humanity  ;" 
thoughtful  and  substantial  in  reasoning,  rich  and  interest- 
ing in  ideas,  but  not  intellectual  so  truly  as  spiritual  ;  not 
bound  in  any  set  forms  but  free  with  that  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  makes  free  ;  with  an  internal  rather  than  external 
method  of  thought  ;  of  the  highest  literary  style  because 
fresh  and  simple,  almost  plain  and  homely,  so  that  the 
ignorant  man  and  the  child  may  understand  what  feeds 
the  most  highly  educated  hearer  ;  as  well  fitted  for  back- 
woodsmen as  for  philosophers,  because  it  is  deep  and 
penetrating,  is  drawn  from  the  common  wells  of  truth  and 
salvation,  appeals  to  the  common  wants  and  desires  of 
the  heart,  and  is  fitted  to  convert  men  from  sin,  and  to 
lead  them  to  and  build  them  up  in  the  life  of  God. 

Nothing  could  be  so  simple  and  yet  nothing  so  high 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  427 

and  difficult  as  such  a  sermon.  It  could  not  be  learned 
in  the  schools  for  it  is  not  theological,  though  it  teaches 
a  true  theology.  It  must  be  taught  by  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  to  the  consecrated  mind  that  has  conscientiously 
and  laboriously  done  its  own  part  in  the  way  of  thorough 
preparation. 

Such  preaching  is  a  true  "  prophesying"  in  the  New 
Testament  sense  of  the  term,  for  it  speaks  through  man 
to  the  whole  man,  intellectual,  affectional,  and  spiritual, 
as  by  the  very  voice  of  God. 

The  development  of  such  a  sermon  will  be  but  the  ex- 
pansion and  filling  out  of  thoughts  and  words  furnished 
by  the  secretly  inspiring  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  it  will  therefore  be  divinely  adapted  to  the  salvation 
of  sinful  men,  and  the  edification  of  the  church  of  Christ. 

Sec.    19.    The  Conclusion. 

The  conclusion   {Schlussrede)    of  a   sermon    is   the    fit 
winding  up  and  the  practical   application   of  all  that  has 
preceded.     In  oratory  it  is  called  the   "  per- 
oration" and  holds  the  same  relation  to  the  ^ 

conclusion. 
end  of  the  sermon  that  the  "  exordium"  or 

"  introduction"  does  to  the  beginning.  It  is  not  really 
the  sermon  itself,  but  is  the  taking  leave  of  the  subject 
in  such  a  way  as  to  gather  up  and  forcibly  impress  its 
teachings.  In  the  conclusion,  the  preacher,  if  he  has  wan- 
dered away  from  his  hearers,  is  drawn  back  to  them  ;  he 
is  reminded  that  it  is  for  them  he  is  preaching,  and  for 
their  spiritual  welfare  ;  he  is  to  leave  the  truth  in  their 
hearts. 

The  conclusion  is  a  trying  and  perilous  part  of  the  dis- 
course, because  it  is  always  diflficult  to  stop  gracefully, 
to  finish  effectively.     Boileau  says  : 

"  Qui  ne  sut  se  borner  ne  sut  jamais  ^crire." 


428  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

It  is  indeed  a  great  thing  to  know  when  to  stop.  Luther, 
speaking  of  the  qualities  of  a  good  preacher,  says  that  "  he 
should  know  when  to  make  an  end."  There  is  a  true 
conclusion  to  every  discourse.  The  god  Terminus  alone, 
at  the  building  of  Rome,  would  not  yield  to  Jove  him- 
self. The  conclusions  of  great  literary  works,  such  as 
"  Paradise  Lost,"  "  Jerusalem  Delivered,"  and  Gibbon's 
"  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  are  memora- 
ble for  their  beautiful  simplicity.  Many  an  effective  ser- 
mon has  been  greatly  weakened  by  drawing  out  its  con- 
clusion to  too  great  length  ;  as  some  one  has  quaintly 
said,  "  v/hen  a  preacher  has  driven  a  nail  in  a  sure  place, 
instead  of  clinching  it,  and  securing  well  the  advantage, 
he  hammers  away  till  he  breaks  the  head  off,  or  splits  the 
board." 

The  importance  and  advantages  of  a  good  conclusion 
are  seen  in  the  following  reasons  : 

I.   It   enables  the  preacher  to  carry  out  the  true  idea 
and  aim  of  preaching,  i.e.,  to  give  a  practi- 

Importance    cal  application  to  what  he  preaches,  directing 

^  it  to  the  conscience  and  heart  of  his  hearers. 

,  d     "^^  ^^^  preacher  has  in  his  own  mind  no  such 

conclusion,    determinate  aim  or  purpose,  he  probably  will 
not  effect  it  by  the  most  approved  conclu- 
sion:; illustrating  the  lines  of  the  poet  : 

"  In  every  work  regard  the  author's  end, 
Since  none  can  compass  more  than  they  intend." 

The  end  of  preaching  is  the  actual  conversion  and 
sanctification  of  souls.  There  may  be,  however,  excep- 
tions to  the  rule  that  the  application  should  come  in  the 
conclusion,  («.)  When,  from  the  nature  of  the  discussion, 
there  is  necessarily  a  continuous  application  in  the  body 
of  the  sermon.      In  certain  kinds  of  discourse,   as,  for 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.  429 

instance,  expository,  hortator>%  and  historical  discourses, 
the  application  may  naturally  run  along  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  sermon,  or,  where  the  divisions  of  a  topical 
sermon  are  themselves  practical,  no  direct  practical  appli-  _^., 
cation  is  needed  at  the  end.  The  less  elaborate  and 
argumentative  the  discourse,  the  less  need  of  reserving 
the  application  for  the  end.  {b.)  When,  from  the  nature 
of  the  audience  or  the  occasion,  there  is  necessarily  a 
continuous  application  of  the  subject.  The  more  gen- 
eral, illiterate,  or  youthful  the  audience,  the  more  need 
of  a  running  application  of  the  theme  to  the  conscience 
and  heart,  in  order  to  keep  attention  alive,  and  to  pro- 
duce a  vivid  impression. 

But,  notwithstanding  these  exceptions,  a  good  conclu- 
sion is  needed  to  enforce  the  moral  impression  of  a  whole 
sermon  ;  and  in  the  case  of  a  strictly  topical  and  argu- 
mentative discourse,  it  is  almost  without  exception  es- 
sential. 

Some  audiences,  or  some  persons  in  an  audience,  it  is 
true,  from  the  fact  of  their  possessing  higher  intelligence 
and  conscientiousness  than  others  will  make  the  applica- 
tion of  a  sermon  for  themselves  ;  but  these  exceptional  au- 
diences and  individual  minds  arc  not  to  be  the  invariable 
rule  for  others.  The  preacher  is  to  leave  the  application, 
or  the  lesson  of  the  sermon,  more  or  less  directly  in  the 
hearts  and  consciences  of  his  hearers.  A  conclusion 
which  is  always  concluding  and  never  seems  to  come  to 
an  end,  because  there  is  no  particular  aim  or  purpose  in 
the  mind  of  the  preacher  himself,  is  a  weak  and  unfor- 
tunate conclusion. 

2.  It  combines  the  scattered  impressions  of  a  sermon 
into  one  powerful  impression,  and  thus  adds  to  the  effect 
of  whatever  has  gone  before.  The  skillful  preacher  un- 
derstands this,   and  shapes   his  whole  sermon  so  as  to 


430  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

make  the  conclusion  effective,  and   to  leave  a  deep  im- 
pression at  last. 

3.  It  preserves  the  sensibilities  of  preacher  and  hearer 
from  being  exhausted.  It  does  this  by  retaining  all  the 
freshness  and  force  of  feeling  for  the  final  appeal. 

4.  It  avoids  a  rude  abruptness  in  closing.  It  gives  a 
moment's  opportunity  for  the  mind  to  pause  and  reflect 
upon  the  whole  subject  gone  over  ;  it  is  the  attainment 
of  a  momentary  superior  elevation,  from  which  the  eye  of 
the  speaker  and  hearer  may  sweep  back  over  the  sermon, 
and  take  in  its  entire  moral  impression. 

In  a  word  a  forcible  conclusion  may  sometimes  save  a 
weak  sermon,  and  a  weak  conclusion  is  enough  to  spoil  a 
strong  sermon. 

We  will  now  look  at  the  different  parts  of  the  conclu- 
sion. The  "  conclusion"  or  "  peroration"  of  a  discourse 
was,  in  ancient  oratory,  divided  into  the  re- 
Diflferent      capitulation  and  the  appeal  to  the  passions. 

J.  J  .  In  modern  times,  and  especially  in  the  ser- 
mon, the  conclusion,  rhetorically  treated,  is 
commonly  divided  by  writers  on  homiletics  into  the  re- 
capitulation, the  inferences,  and  the  appeal  to  the  feelings, 
or  the  personal  appeal  ;  and  each  of  these,  or  all  com- 
bined, may  form  the  conclusion. 

And  what  the  conclusion  should  be — whether  one  of 
these  parts  should  be  chosen,  or  all  of  them — is  to  be 
decided  by  the  character  of  the  development,  and  by 
studying  how  to  increase  the  force  of  the  moral  impres- 
sion, which  should  be  strongest  at  the  end.  There  ought 
to  be  no  set  manner  of  ending  a  sermon  ;  and,  generally 
speaking,  a  good  sermon  ends  itself.  Those  are  the 
best  conclusions  that  make  themselves,  and  that  are  not 
too  long  in  the  making.  Joseph  Hall,  in  his  preface  to 
his  "  Virtues  and  Vices,"  says,  "  I  desire  not  to  say  all 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SEA'AION.         431 

that  might  be  said,  but  enough."  The  famous  Dr. 
Barrow,  after  preaching  three  mortal  hours,  was  finally- 
blown  down  by  the  organ's  setting  up  to  play  ;  and  old 
Thomas  Fuller  gives  a  ludicrous  account  of  an  Au- 
gustine friar  who  came  to  an  end  more  summarily  still 
relating  that  the  friar  "  bellowed  so  loud  that  he  lost 
his  argument,  conscience,  and  voice,  at  once  and  to- 
gether." 

I.   Recapitulation.     This  can  be  borne  only  by  a  decid- 
edly argumentative  discussion,  and  it  is  borrowed  from  the 

forensic  address.    That  legal  and  terse  kind  of 

,     .  .         .  .     Recapitulation, 

recapitulation  often  increases  the  power  of  a 

discourse  by  compressing  its  substance  into  a  small  space. 
It  likewise  strengthens  the  whole  argument,  by  binding 
up  weak  and  strong  arguments,  thus  giving  an  impres- 
sion of  finish  and  strength  to  the  whole.  It  serves,  above 
all,  to  aid  the  memory,  and  it  is  addressed  to  the  intel- 
lect more  than  the  feelings.  The  recapitulation  should 
be,  {a.)  rapid  and  clear.  In  the  closing  remarks,  or  the 
winding  up  of  a  sermon,  nothing  is  so  fatal  as  tedious- 
ness  ;  everything  should  be  condensed,  rapid,  hastening 
ad  evcntiiJJi.  There  should  be  nothing  stiff,  formal,  and 
statistical  in  the  recapitulation  ;  its  design,  in  addition 
to  assisting  the  memory,  is  to  concentrate  the  force  of 
the  separate  heads  of  argument  into  one,  thus  preparing 
the  way  to  the  application,  {b.')  It  should  not  repeat 
arguments  in  precisely  the  same  language  as  that  employ- 
ed in  the  body  of  the  sermon,  but  these  should  be  cast  in 
a  fresh  form,  (r.)  It  is  sometimes  effective  to  vary  the 
order  of  the  arguments  themselves,  generally  by  arrang- 
ing them  in  a  climactic  order,  id?)  The  recapitulation 
should  have  certainty  and  confidence  of  tone.  It  sup- 
poses that  the  truths  enumerated  have  been  proved  and 
settled  ;  that  they  have  come  out  from  the  vague  and 


432  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

contradictory  condition  of  the  beginning  of  the  sermon 
into  distinct  and  established  shapes. 

As  has  been  hinted,  the  recapitulation  is  not  always  de- 
sirable, particularly  if  one  has  nothing  especial  to  reca- 
pitulate, if  he  has  not  preached  a  solid  sermon,  or  if 
the  ideas  of  the  sermon  have  been  ill  digested  and  ill 
arranged.  The  recapitulation,  in  some  instances,  may 
be  made  during  the  progress  of  the  discussion,  in  order 
to  give  a  clearer  view  of  the  connection  of  parts  while 
passing  on,  and  to  impress  and  gather  up  all  the  thoughts, 
so  that  at  the  close  there  is  no  need  of  any  further  men- 
tioning of  these.  Above  all,  a  recapitulation  is  inadmis- 
sible when  the  appeal  to  the  feelings  grows  naturally  out 
of  the  last  topic  discussed,  or  the  last  division  introduced. 

2.   Inferences  and    remarks.     These    indicate  the    use 
which  is  made  of  the  subject  after  the  discussion  is  con- 
cluded.    They  form  a  method  of  making  the 

Inferences. 

direct  application  of  the  arguments.  Infer- 
ences may  be  made  to  bring  out  more  clearly  the  symmetry 
of  truth.  Thus,  after  discussing  the  doctrine  of  moral  evil 
in  a  series  of  inferences,  one  may  show  its  deep  relations  to 
other  and  brighter  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  may  thus 
take  a  broad  and  rapid  sweep  from  the  basis  of  the  dis- 
cussion, around  the  whole  circle  of  related  truth.  Infer- 
ences may  also  conduce  to  unexpected,  powerful  impres- 
sions. 

"  People  think  more  of  the  explanation  and  application, 
not  so  much  of  the  argument." 

The  argument  is  in  fact  preparing  the  way  for  the 
application. 

After  thoroughly  discussing  a  topic,  we  may  in  an  in- 
ference suddenly  open  a  hidden  relation  in  an  entirely 
different  direction  ;  and  this  may  have  been  deliberately 
prepared  for  during  the  whole  sermon,  or  the  mine  may 


A ^VA LYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         433 

have  been  silently  dug  under  the  citadel  of  the  unbeliev- 
ing heart.  Inferences  should  not,  however,  be  suffered 
to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  discourse,  which  is  their  ten- 
dency, and  which  is  to  be  carefully  guarded  against. 
Rather  than  do  this,  they  had  better  be  left  out  altogether. 

As  to  rules  for  inferences  : 

I.  They  should  be  drawn  directly  from  the  develop- 
ment of  the  sermon.  Thus  in  the  argumentative  sermon, 
after  we  have  given   the  hearers  a  view  of 

the  proofs,  we  may  in  the  application  bring        "  ^^  °^ 
,      ,  ,         ,  ,  inferences, 

home  the  truth  that  has  been  proved,  more 

particularly  to  the  hearers'  own  minds  ;  we  thus  follow 
out  the  same  design  we  have  heretofore  pursued. 

In  the  expository  sermon,  we  may  close  with  the  uses 
and  lessons  we  have  gained,  as  applied  to  the  different 
conditions  of  our  hearers.  In  the  persuasive  sermon, 
there  should  be  at  the  end  a  more  close  application 
of  the  motives  as  directed  to  the  particular  action  to 
which  we  would  persuade  men.  Thus  the  subject  and 
our  own  particular  aim  in  its  discussion  should  shape 
the  character  of  the  inferences.  They  should  be  parts 
of  the  body  of  the  sermon  ;  they  should  bear  the 
stamp  of  their  common  origin,  and  belong  to  the  same 
family  of  thoughts  and  ideas.  There  may  be  sometimes 
an  exception  to  this  rule,  when  the  whole  discussion  of  a 
theme  is  intended  to  be  only  subsidiary  to  a  different 
application  of  the  subject.  Thus,  in  a  biographical  dis- 
course, after  one  has  set  forth  the  virtues  and  character  of 
an  individual — in  the  conclusion  he  may  enforce  some 
one  or  more  moral  truths  that  have  been  livingly  exem- 
plified. So,  too.  the  explanation  in  the  body  of  a  ser- 
mon, of  a  certain  truth,  may  be  subservient  to  the  set- 
ting forth  of  some  other  nearly-related  truth  ;  or  it  may 
show  a  personal   duty,  or   may  lead  to  a  distinct  self-ap- 


434  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

plication,  or  self-examination.  An  argument  upon  a 
truth  may  lead  to  the  conviction  of  a  duty  ;  indeed,  what- 
ever the  character  of  a  sermon  is,  the  use  of  it  in  the  con- 
clusion should  be  persuasive. 

Coquerelsays  :  "  The  peroration  should  be  drawn  from 
the  very  heart  of  the  subject,  should  be  something  strik- 
ing, something  felicitous,  something  by  itself  apart, 
something  different  from  what  has  gone  before,  though 
derived  from  it,  something  more  vehement  and  direct, 
which  completes  and  forms  the  crown  of  the  whole  ser- 
mon." 

2.  They  should  be  forcible,  i.e.,  they  should  not  be 
feeble  or  frivolous  inferences  ;  and  they  should  not  be  all 
the  inferences  that  could  possibly  be  drawn  from  a  subject. 
There  should  be  weight  and  freshness  in  them.  In  the 
application,  we  go  beyond  the  bare  general  truth  of  our 
subject,  and  present  those  forcible  conclusions  which  are 
to  persuade  our  hearers  in  particular.  Inferences  may  be 
drawn  from  other  inferences,  if  they  are  still  in  harmony 
with  the  general  discussion,  and  if  they  grow  out  of  it. 

As  has  been  said,  there  may  possibly  be  cases  where 
the  inference  is  entirely  aside  from  the  definite  subject  of 
the  sermon — thus,  a  lesson  to  the  impenitent  may  fol- 
low a  sermon  addressed  to  believers.  This  kind  of  side- 
issue,  or  divergent  inference,  should  at  least  follow  a  dis- 
course which  abounds  in  solid  thought,  which  carries  all 
before  it,  and  which  makes  room  for  itself  to  send  its 
messages  in  every  direction.  As  a  general  rule,  it  is 
more  forcible  to  make,  in  the  conclusion,  a  final  concen- 
tration upon  one  point  which  has  been  more  widely  dis- 
cussed and  illustrated  in  the  body  of  the  sermon,  rather 
than  to  make  a  final  diffusion  of  thought,  or  widening 
out  of  the  discussion  into  general  remarks. 

Dr.  Fitch  says  that  it  is  best  always  to  make  the  appli- 


ANAL  YSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         435 

cation  of  the  whole  subject,  and  not  of  the  particular 
thoughts.  Build  the  fortification  as  nicely  and  elabo- 
rately, piece  by  piece,  as  you  may,  and  then  fire  from  it. 
Subjects,  however,  differ.  Some  lead  irresistibly  to 
broad  and  universal  conclusions,  especially  those  which 
relate  to  the  nature  of  God. 

3.  They  should  have  regard  to  the  character  and  state 
of  mind  of  the  hearers,  as  well  as  to  the  character  and 
design  of  the  subject  ;  e.g.,  when  the  hearer  is  reasonably 
supposed  to  be  persuaded  of  the  truth  or  necessity  of 
a  certain  duty,  he  should  then  be  told  how  to  perform 
that  duty,  and  should  be  helped  to  overcome  its  difificul- 
ties.  You  do  not  wish  so  much  to  add  anything  more 
to  convince  him,  as  to  aid  in  doing  the  thing  of  which 
he  is  presumed  to  be  already  persuaded.  Christians  and 
unbelievers,  as  they  are  in  different  states  of  mind,  arc 
to  be  differently  addressed  in  the  conclusion.  Encourage- 
ments, alarms,  hopes,  fears,  choices,  affections,  are  differ- 
ent in  each. 

4.  They  should  increase  in  force  and  importance.  Re- 
marks relating  to  truth  or  conviction  should  precede 
those  respecting  duty  or  persuasion.  And  in  persuasion 
we  should  address  those  first  who  are  most  favorably  dis- 
posed, and  therefore,  ceteris  paribus,  we  should  address 
the  converted  before  the  unconverted. 

5.  They  should  be  free  from  stiffness,  dulness,  and 
monotonousness.  Never  should  those  qualities  appear 
in  a  conclusion,  if  they  do  anywhere  else,  as  it  is  abso- 
lutely needful  that  there  should  be  variety,  individuality, 
and  vivid  life  in  our  concluding  remarks,  for  here  the  per- 
suasive element  in  the  discourse  is  concentred  and  in- 
tensified. 

If  there  be  life  and  w^armth  in  any  part  of  the  discourse 
it  naturally  comes  in  that  portion  of  it  where  the  infer- 


43^  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

ence  is  drawn,  where  the  lesson  is  enforced,  where  the 
argument  is  driven  home.  Here  the  weightiest  and  most 
solemn  truths  should  be  spoken  with  earnestness  and 
power.  If,  as  the  rule  of  the  old  Greek  dramatist  was, 
that  there  should  be  a  plain  or  a  dead  level  somewhere  in 
the  drama  where  the  mind  might  rest  awhile  in  the  more 
commonplace  statement  of  thought,  or  fact,  or  action — 
and  the  same  might  be  said  of  a  sermon — this  certainly 
should  not  be  at  the  end. 

Some  preachers  draw  pretty  much  the  same  inferences 
from  all  subjects  ;  but  we  had  better  make  one  bold, 
impressive,  original  inference,  than  a  dozen  that  are  com- 
monplace. F.  W.  Robertson,  though  abounding  in  in- 
ferential remarks,  rarely  cast  his  conclusion  into  a  set  of 
formal  inferences,  but  in  closing  usually  made  one  strong 
remark,  one  unexpected  deduction,  driven  with  tremen- 
dous power  by  all  that  had  gone  before.  Thus,  in  a 
sermon  to  men  of  wealth  he  says,  "  To  conclude  ;"  and 
in  a  few  condensed  words  he  pours  out  a  burning  torrent 
of  rebuke  upon  the  clergy  of  England  for  their  flattery  of 
men  of  wealth,  and  their  cowardly  apologizing  for  the 
vices  of  the  rich.  Such  a  sermon  was  not  forgotten.  It 
left  an  ineffaceable  impression  on  the  conscience  of  those 
persons  it  was  meant  to  reach.  ^-i" 

Doddridge  says  that  the  conclusion  of  a  sermon  should 
be  striking.  Massillon  sometimes  closed  with  a  suppli- 
cation. Each  remark  of  a  conclusion  should  rise  in 
power,  should  be  free  and  untrammelled,  and  often 
abrupt  as  a  thunder-peal,  smiting  the  conscience  with' 
terror. 

Dr.  Fitch  says,  that  in  the  application  there  is  more 
occasion  for  vehemence  and  force  than  in  any  other  part. 
Jonathan  Edwards  was  inclined  to  be  prolix  in  his  conclu- 
sions ;  they  were  often  more  full  of  thought  than  feeling. 


yl.VAL  VS/S  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         437 
<j 

I.   Appeal  to   the  feelings.      There   are  usually  three 

modes  of  ending  a  sermon  :  {a.)  In  the  form  of  a  series 

of  inferences  as  just  suggested  ;  {b.)  In  the 

form    of    detached     observations    following  ■'^PP^*  ^°  *"^ 

feelings, 
generally   biographical    and    historical  sub- 
jects ;  {c.)  In  the  form  of  direct  address  or  appeal,  which 
follows    out   the   aim    of    the    sermon,  or    is    appended 
directly  to  the  body  of  the  discourse.     In  this  direct  ad- 
dress is  generally  the  place  for  the  appeal  to  the  feelings. 

This  address  to  the  feelings  is  something  above  all  art, 
and  the  more  spontaneous  and  natural  it  is  the  better. 
That  is  often  the  inspired  moment  of  the  discourse  ;  it 
is  inspired  or  not  ;  it  is  real  or  artificial  ;  it  is  everything 
or  nothing.  There  should  be  true  feeling  in  it,  or  the 
speaker  should  not  attempt  an  appeal  to  the  feelings  of 
others. 

(1.)  The  whole  sermon  should  be  more  or  less  arranged 
for  the  moral  and  emotional  appeal  of  the  conclusion. 
This  should  be  unconsciously  rather  than  artfully  done. 
All  should  hasten  to  the  end.  One  should  begin  the 
sermon  with  the  end  in  view\  He  should  strike  the 
same  chord  at  the  end  which  he  did  at  the  beginning, 
though  with  tenfold  force.  If  one  has  this  aim,  to 
leave  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  on  the  heart  of 
the  hearers,  pathetic  and  passionate  thoughts  will  present 
themselves  while  he  is  composing  the  sermon,  and  these 
should  be  remembered  and  gathered  up  for  the  conclu- 
sive appeal. 

(2.)  The  appeal  should  not  be  for  rhetorical,  but  for  true 
effect.  The  conclusions  of  Demosthenes'  and  yEschines' 
orations  "  On  the  Crown"  were  introduced  to  cause 
in  their  hearers  the  feeling  which  the  orators  wished 
to  create.  Their  banishment  or  triumph,  their  poli- 
tical   life    or  death,    depended    on     the   result.      They 


438  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

reserved  their  strong  word  for  the  last.  They  hurled 
it  with  all  their  force  upon  the  hearts  of  their  hear- 
ers. It  was  a  real  thing  with  them  to  succeed.  It  was 
no  child's  play.  And  has  the  preacher  any  smaller 
stake  ?  Has  he  any  less  enduring  crown  in  view  ? 
Should  he  himself  have  less  feeling  ?  Baxter  says,  in  his 
*'  Reformed  Pastor,'/)  "  I  know  not  what  others  think, 
but  for  my  own  part,  I  am  ashamed  of  my  stupidity,  and 
wonder  at  myself  that  I  deal  not  with  my  own  and 
others'  souls  as  one  that  looks  for  the  great  day  of  the 
Lord,  and  that  I  can  have  room  for  almost  any  other 
thoughts  or  words,  and  that  such  astonishing  matters  do 
not  wholly  absorb  my  mind.  I  marvel  how  I  can  preach 
of  them  slightly  and  coldly,  and  how  I  can  let  men  alone 
in  their  sins,  and  that  I  do  not  go  to  them  and  beseech 
them,  for  the  Lord's  sake,  to  repent,  however  they  take 
it,  or  whatever  pains  or  trouble  it  should  cost  me.  I  sel- 
dom come  out  of  the  pulpit  but  my  conscience  smites  me 
that  I  have  been  no  more  serious  and  fervent  in  such  a 
cause.  It  accuses  me  not  so  much  for  want  of  human 
ornaments  and  elegancy,  but  it  asketh  me,  *  How  couldst 
thou  speak  of  life  and  death  with  such  a  heart  ?  '//' 

(3.)  The  appeal  should  not  be  overdrawn.  Hamlet's 
advice  is  still  good  ;  there  should  be  a  calmness,  a  self- 
possession,  even  in  the  very  torrent  and  flow  of  the  most 
pathetic  appeal.  One  must  control  himself,  to  control 
his  audience.  He  should  not  go  before  them  in  the 
manifestation  of  emotion.  Pathos  in  the  conclusion  does 
not  so  much  consist  in  a  strained,  high-pitched  voice,  or 
an  agitated  manner,  or  intense  and  harrowing  language, 
as  in  a  certain  deepening  of  the  tone  of  feeling,  a  con- 
centration of  thought,  and  a  profound  earnestness  of  the 
whole  man.  Sometimes  a  preacher  must  weep,  and  he 
would  not  have  a  true  heart  if  he  did   not  ;  but   it  were 


AA'ALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.        439 

better  for  him  not  to  weep.  Yet  if  he  cannot  prevent 
tears,  let  them  flow  ;  Christ  wept  over  Jerusalem,  It  is 
no  weakness  to  feel  deeply,  but  restrained  emotion  is 
often  more  powerful  than  its  expression  ;  and  the  appeal 
should  be  made  not  so  much  to  the  superficial  as  to  the 
spiritual  sensibilities. 

(4.)  All  appeals  to  feeling  should  be  brief.  Thus  the 
most  touching,  the  most  direct  remark  one  has  to  make 
comes  naturally,  and  it  were  better,  spontaneously. 

It  should  be  said  in  as  simple  and  few  words  as  possible. 

"  Tears  dry  fast."  Let  nature's  short  road  to  the  feel- 
ings be  studied.  A  particular  case,  or  a  personal  fact, 
is  more  apt  than  a  general  observation  to  touch  the  feel- 
ings. An  allusion  to  some  individual,  or  to  some  circum- 
stance, is  more  moving  in  the  conclusion  than  the  best 
philosophical  generalizations.  For  the  real  close  itself,  so 
far  as  the  feelings  are  concerned,  nothing  is  more  impres- 
sive and  moving  than  a  feeling,  solemn  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture, either  the  text  or  some  other  perhaps  still  more 
pointed  word  of  Scripture.  Then  the  sermon  begins  and 
ends  with  the  word  of  God.  The  voice  of  God  first  breaks 
the  silence,  and  after  the  voice  of  man  has  been  heard  for 
a  while,  the  voice  of  God  comes  again  at  the  close  ;  and  if 
this  is  the  warm  expression  of  the  love  of  the  gospel,  sim- 
ple, genuine,  pure,  it  will  be  so  much  the  more  powerful. 

(5.)  An  indirect  appeal  is  often  effective.  Men  are 
jealous  of  appeals  to  their  feelings  :  and  perhaps  the 
strongest  appeal,  after  all,  is  so  to  construct  the  whole 
discourse  as  that  it  shall  make  its  own  appeal. 

"  Of  every  noble  work  the  silent  part  is  best, 
Of  all  expression  that  which  cannot  be  expressed." 

We  are  more  and  more  inclined  to  think  that  the  con- 
clusion of  a  sermon  should  not  be  highly  wrought,  but 


44°  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

simple.  This  is  the  trial  of  the  conclusion.  If  there  is 
an  appeal  to  the  feelings,  it  should  flow  naturally  from 
the  last  remark  or  thought  of  the  sermon,  rather  than 
arouse  a  distinct  expectation  that  now  an  appeal  is  to  be 
made  to  the  impenitent,  to  the  young,  to  church  mem- 
bers. This  tends  to  deprive  the  conclusion  of  its  effect. 
Sometimes  the  whole  concluding  appeal  ma}'  be  in  a 
single  sentence.     This  was  peculiarly  char- 

"    ^^^      acteristic    of    Luther's   "conclusions."      A 
conclusions.  ,,  x       i  ,•  ,  i 

German  writer  says,       Luther  did   not  lay 

great  stress  on  the  conclusion,  and  many  of  his  sermons 
are  without  any  recapitulation.  He  ends  some  of  his 
sermons  abruptly,  with  the  words,  '  Enough  now  has 
been  said  upon  this  Scripture  ;  let  us  call  upon  the  grace 
of  God. '  In  other  discourses  he  simply,  in  conclusion, 
repeats  the  main  thought  of  the  last  division  of  the  dis- 
course, and  says,  '  Have  faith  and  love  ;  abide  in  them  ; 
so  you  can  have  and  do  all  this.'  Or  he  closes  with  a 
wish  :  '  God  grant  that  we  also  may  comprehend  ;  '  or 
'  God  keep  us,  save  us,  and  grant  that  we  may  earnestly 
hold  to  this  teaching,  so  that  we  may  not  fall  into  shame- 
ful sin  and  reproach.'  "     < 

The  concluding  words  of  mediaeval  sermons  were 
usually  some  brief  devotional  formula  like  this  :  "  Per 
Dominum  nostrum  Jesiini  Christum  qui  cutn  Deo  Patre  et 
Spiritu  Sancto  vivit  et  regnat  omnipotens  in  secula  secu- 
loriim.     Amen.'' 

The  following  is  the  ending  of  an  old  English  sermon 
of  1430  : 

"  Now  our  swete  Lord  Ihesu  Christo  gyfte  vs  grace 
swa  Godd  for  to  honour,  and  oure  euencristen  for  to 
liefe,  and  oure  selfe  for  to  make,  that  we  may  for  oure 
honourynge  be  honourede,  and  for  oure  liefe  be  liefede, 
and  for  oure  mekeness  be  lyftede  up  into  heighe  blysse 


ANALYSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.         44 1 

of  heven,  that  he  boghte  vs  with  his  swete  blude  and  his 
preciouse  passion.     Amen." 

The  concluding  of  a  sermon  with  a  text  of  Scripture, 
either  the  text  of  the  sermon,  or  one  similar  to  it  in 
meaning,  as  has  been  said,  always  makes  an  appropriate 
and  sometimes  impressive  ending. 

Stereotyped  forms  of  appeal,  of  direct  appeal  to  the 

unconverted,  have  lost  much  of  their  power.     There  is 

sometimes     an     impressiveness    in    leaving 

them  off  altogether.  ^''^°  ^^^ 

forms 
In  the   homiletical  writers  of  the  seven-      of  appeal. 

teenth    century    there    was   much    of    this 

formal  character  given  to  the  application  or  conclusion. 

A  sermon  was  made  to  end  so  as  to  subserve  five  uses, 

the 

(l.)   Usus  didasculus. 

(2.)   Usus  elenchticus. 

(3.)   Usus  epanort hot icus. 

(4.)   Usus p^sdant icus. 

(5 . )   U^sus  paraclcticus. 
or,    for     instructing,    proving,     correcting,     disciplining, 
consoling.' 

But  this  is  evidently  asking  too  much  of  every  sermon, 
and  of  every  conclusion  of  every  sermon.  These  good 
results  should  rather  belong  to  the  whole  sermon  and  its 
uses,  than  simply  to  the  conclusion  ;  yet  the  above 
psychological  distinctions,  which  are  in  themselves  true 
and  valuable,  show  that,  according  to  the  judgment  of 
these  old  writers,  a  sermon  should  never  be  without 
point,  or  particular  serviceability  for  some  definite  end. 

This  end,  however,  should  be  skillfully  brought  about. 
It  is  vain  to  spread  the  net  in  the  sight  of  any  bird. 


'  Henke,   p.  530  (note). 


442  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Even  the  solemn  appeal  to  the  unconverted  may  be 
overdone  and  fall  without  effect. 

But  it  may  possibly  be  that — the  custom  of  direct  ap- 
peal having  gone  so  much  into  disuse,  and  sermons  having 
become  so  essayish  and  impersonal,  and  devoid  of  direct- 
ness and  point — a  return  now  and  then  to  the  old  method 
of  direct  appeal  to  the  impenitent,  at  the  close  of  the 
sermon,  might,  in  some  cases,  be  deeply  effective. 

Earnestness  on  the  part  of  the  preacher  to  do  good  to 
the  souls  of  his  hearers  is  something  that  cannot  be  con- 
fined to  rules,  that  overrides  all  forms,  and  that  usually 
makes  its  own  methods. 

The  conclusion  of  Whitefield's  sermon  on  the  "  King- 
dom of  God"  is  an  example  of  this  intensely  earnest  kind 
of  personal  appeal. 

The  great  and  only  question  is,  How  is  the  deepest 
impression  to  be  made  by  a  sermon  ?  It  certainly  de- 
pends very  much  on  the  conclusion.  The  sermon  has 
been  compared  to  a  river  ;  it  may  be  small  at  its  begin- 
ning, but  at  its  close,  when  it  pours  itself  into  the  ocean, 
it  should  be  the  fullest  in  volume,  the  profoundest  in 
depth,  the  most  majestic  in  movement,  though,  perhaps, 
at  that  very  moment,  it  may  be  the  calmest  to  all  appear- 
ance, from  the  fact  that  it  is  pouring  along  its  greatest 
volume.  So  the  conclusion  of  a  sermon  on  divine  truth 
may  be  apparently  the  most  tranquil  part  of  the  sermon  ; 
but  that  is,  and  should  be,  the  tranquillity  of  the  deepest 
feeling,  of  the  fullest  thought,  of  the  most  solemn  and 
momentous  truth  ;  for  it  has  then  reached  a  point  where 
it  is  about  to  mingle  with  the  ocean  of  eternal  life  or 
death  ;  it  is  "  the  savor  of  life  unto  life,  or  of  death  unto 
death  ;"  the  word  has  been  spoken,  and  it  returns  to 
God  ;  the  conclusion  may  be  calm,  and  even  joyful,  but 
it  should  be  the  calmness  of  earnest  and  solemn  feeling;. 


AA'AL  VSIS  AND  COMPOSITION  OF  SERMON.        443 

As  a  suggestion  in  closing  a  sermon,  let  the  preacher 
be  kind  in  his  words  and  manner,  even  to  the  wickedest 
and  worst. 

In  the  moment  of  the  most  solemn  adjuration,  or 
even  burning  rebuke  and  denunciation,  let  the  affec- 
tionateness  of  the  gospel  glow.  This  personal  appeal 
in  all  cases  is  difficult,  and  is  often  better  to  be  in- 
dicated than  actually  made  ;  but  there  should  be,  direct- 
ly or  indirectly,  with  boldness,  but  in  love,  a  personal 
application  of  the  sermon  ;  and  there  may  be  times 
when  nothing  else  is  suitable,  or  nothing  will  reach  the 
point,  excepting  the  words  of  Nathan  to  David,  "  Thou 
art  the  man  !"  Love  in  the  heart  will  teach  us,  and  it 
alone  will  teach  us,  how  to  reach  the  hearts  of  our  sinful 
fellow-men. 

The  preacher  should  ever  keep  in  mind  that  the  end  of 
preaching  is  not  preaching  itself,  but  a  lodgment  of  the 
renovating  truth  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  hear  ;  in  the 
language  of  Vinet,  "  God  has  purposed  that  man  should 
be  the  channel  of  truth  to  man.  Not  only  are  words  to  be 
transmitted  and  repeated  ;  a  life  is  to  be  communicated." 


FIFTH     DIVISION. 
CLASSIFICATION    OF    SERMONS. 

Sec.   20.    Classification   of   Scrmo7is   according    to    their 
treatment  and  form. 

Sermons  may  be  classified  according  to  two  general 
methods  :  first,  as  having  mainly  reference  to  the  charac- 
ter of  the  discourse  itself,  or  what  might  be 
Sermons  called  its  formal  treatment  ;  and  second,  as 
classified  having  reference  mainly  to  its  mode  of  de- 
according     livery.     We  will  now  notice  the  first  of  these, 

.  ,      or  sermons  classified  according  to  their  real 
essential 
character  and  character  and  form  of  treatment. 

treatment.  In  no  part  of  the  science  of  homiletics 
(if  it  be  a  science)  is  there  more  of  con- 
fusion than  in  the  attempt  of  authors  to  classify  ser- 
mons according  to  their  intrinsic  qualities — their  essen- 
tial form  and  treatment.  Every  writer  has  a  system  of 
his  own  ;  therefore  we  have  not  thought  it  worth  the 
while  to  enter  largely  into  this  matter  of  the  classifica- 
tion of  sermons  according  to  their  nature  and  form  ;  but 
would  name  only  a  few  of  the  principal  kinds  of  sermons, 
some  of  which  have  been  already  more  fully  treated  of. 

As  an  example  of  the  great  fertility  of  analysis  in  this 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  445 

field  we  would  point  to  "  Gerard  and  Campbell's"  list  of 
different  kinds  of  sermons,  as  chiefly  adopt- 
ed by  Dr.  Fitch,      i.   Critical  expository  lee-   fertility  of 

.  .  classification, 

tare,  on  a  text   difficult  of  exposition.     2. 

Practical  expository  lecture,  on  a  text  not  so  difficult  of 
exposition.  3.  Explanatory  sermon  ;  in  other  words, 
"instructive"  and  "explicatory."  4.  Biographical  ser- 
mon ;  in  other  words,  "  commendatory,"  "  panegyrical." 
5.  Particular  demonstrative,  setting  forth  some  one  act 
or  quality  of  a  good  life.  6.  General  demonstrative, 
presenting  the  sum  of  virtues  of  one  life.  7.  Argumen- 
tative ;  in  other  words,  "  convictive"  or  "probatory." 
8.  Pathetic,  presenting  motives  without  particular  refer- 
ence to  duties.  9.  General  persuasive  ;  a  duty  enforced 
by  fit  motives.  10.  Particular  persuasive  ;  a  duty  en- 
forced by  some  one  motive  taken  for  text,  etc.,  etc- 
Dr.  Fitch,  however,  thinks  that  all  sermons,  in  respect  of 
their  method  of  treatment,  may  be  comprehended  under 
the  three  simple  divisions  of  Explanatory,  Argumenta- 
tive, and  Persuasive.  Argumentative  discourses  Dr.  Fitch 
considers  to  be  best  for  young  writers,  for  youth  is  the 
argumentative  age,  and  such  discourses  are  the  most  easily 
susceptible  of  unity  of  treatment.  But  stiff,  scholastic 
forms  of  argumentation  should  be  avoided  ;  the  logic 
should  be  animated  with  sentiment  and  feeling.  The 
unity  of  the  Persuasive  discourse  consists  not  so  much 
in  having  one  subject  or  argument,  as  in  having  one  ten-  x 
dency  in  the  various  parts  to  affect  the  will  and  feelings. 
Perhaps  the  simplest  classification  which  could  be  made, 
and  which  would  embrace  the  most  of  all  ordinary  de- 
scriptions of  sermons,  is,  l.  The  textual  The  simplest 
(analytic)  ;  2.  The  topical,  sometimes  called  classification, 
theme  sermons,  or  subject-sermons  (synthetic)  ;  3.  The 
textual-topical,    (analytic-synthetic).      If    desired,    how- 


44^  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

ever,  to  be  more  full  and  explicit,  we  would  offer  the  fol- 
lowing classification  of  sermons  according  to  their  subject- 
matter  and  internal  treatment  : 

I.  As  depending  upon  the  manner  of  treating  the  text  : 
{a.)  textual  ;  {b.)  topical  ;  (r.)  expository, 

2.    As  depending  upon    the    manner    of 

treating  the    subject  :    {a.\    doctrinal  ;    ib.') 
classification.       ,.,'',,  ,       •     ,      ,  _,  x   ,  -         •     , 

ethical  ;  \c.)  metaphysical  ;  [a.)  historical. 

3.  As  depending  upon  the  general  rhetorical  treat- 
ment :  (^.)  argumentative  ;  {b.')  meditative  ;  (c.)  descrip- 
tive ;  id.')  hortatory. 

One  sermon  sometimes,  in  fact,  combines  all,  or  nearly 
all,  the  characteristics  which  have  just  been  mentioned  ; 
although  generally  in  one  sermon  some  one  quality,  or 
some  one  characteristic  of  matter  or  form,  decidedly  pre- 
dominates, which  gives  it  its  stamp  ;  but  even  the  simple 
classifications  which  we  have  given  show  the  great  variety 
there  may  be  and  should  be  in  the  treatment  of  religious 
truth  from  the  pulpit.     Let  us  look  at  this 

*"^  ^      quality  of  variety  in  the  treatment  of  divine 
of  treatment. 

truth  necessary  for  the  pulpit,  and,  by  way 

of  illustration,  at  a  few  of  the  different  kinds  of  treat- 
ment, which  it  were  well  to  consider,  since  the  preacher, 
from  his  peculiar  habit  of  mind,  may  and  does  naturally 
fall  into  one  stereotyped  style  of  sermonizing  ;  it  may  be, 
for  example,  dealing  principally  with  the  rational  methods 
of  presenting  truth,  which  demand  a  style  of  discussion 
more  or  less  philosophical. 

(«.)  The  metaphysical  or  philosophical  sermon.     This 

method,  dealing  almost   exclusively  with    thought,  is  a 

noble    method  ;    but    great    care  should  be 

Metaphysical  ^^y^^^  j^q^  to  suffer  this  to  become  a  rigidly 

uniform  mode  of  sermonizing.    The  preacher 

must   consult   all   kinds  and   capacities  of  minds.      The 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  447 

main  part  of  a  miscellaneous  congregation  is  composed  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  of  many  who  are  illiterate 
and  ignorant,  are  not  highly  intellectual,  are  not  meta- 
physical reasoners,  and  must  be  addressed  through  the 
common  understanding,  sensibility,  and  imagination,  by 
facts,  illustrations,  and  a  style  of  discussion  that  touches 
the  popular  conscience  and  heart.  One  should  therefore 
now  and  then  write  simpler  sermons,  and  occasionally  a 
descriptive  sermon. 

{b.)  The  moral-dramatic  sermon.  This  form  of  preach- 
ing has  gone  too  much  out  of  vogue  ;  but  in  the  hands 
of   a  master  it   is   powerful.      Two    of   the 

most  interesting  of  Dr.  Eleazer  Fitch's  dis-  '^^  " 

°  dramatic 

courses,  which  he  delivered  to  the  students       sermon. 

of  Yale  College,  are  upon  "  The  sacrifice 
of  Isaac,"  abounding  in  eloquent  descriptive  writing 
in  which  the  picture  is  wrought  to  the  highest  degree 
of  the  morally  picturesque.  The  conversation  between 
Abraham  and  Isaac,  and  the  thoughts  of  Abraham,  as 
the  father  and  child  climb  Mount  Moriah,  are  im- 
agined with  great  pathos  and  power,  and  every  minute 
circumstance  in  the  narrative  was  seized  upon  and  en- 
larged with  the  greatest  dramatic  skill.  This  is  a  legiti- 
mate use  of  art.  Such  sermons  cannot  be  forgotten. 
We  neglect  too  much  this  dramatic  element.  Power  is 
lost  by  shutting  up  ourselves  exclusively  to  the  didactic 
style,  and  not  taking  advantage  of  the  rich  narrative, 
poetic,  and  dramatic  portions  of  the  Bible,  and  of  the 
vast  field  of  human  life. 

(<:.)  The  expository  sermon.     This  is  happily  beginning 

to   reassert    its    place    in    the   pulpit.      We 

•  1  i.-      1  Expository 

have  already  dwelt    with    some   particular- 

-'  sermon. 

ity  upon  this  kind  of  sermon.      Its  advan- 
tages are  manifold.     It  was  the  style  of  the  early  ages. 


44^  nOMILETICS   PROPER. 

It  is  more  like  the  scriptural  and  apostolic  method 
of  preaching  than  any  other,  confining  itself  more 
exclusively  to  the  Scriptures,  and  thus  drawing  forth 
their  marrow  of  doctrine.  Whether  simply  the  ex- 
position of  a  passage  comprising  one  sermon,  or  of  a 
continuous  series  of  passages,  or  a  book  comprising  a 
number  of  sermons,  it  drives  preachers  and  hearers  to  a 
study  of  the  Scripture  in  its  connection  of  parts.  The 
great  reason  why  it  is  not  more  popular  is,  as  has  been 
suggested,  that  it  is  made  too  easy  a  matter — something 
for  rainy  days  and  hot  afternoons  ;  and  in  the  form  of  it  it 
is  not  always  well-arranged  for  practical  effect,  the  texts 
are  not  massed,  the  leading  thought  is  not  seized,  and 
the  whole  lacks  unity  of  aim  ;  for  a  genuine  expository 
sermon  is  not  a  shambling  commentary  or  set  of  running 
remarks,  but  is  a  practical  discourse  upon  a  passage  of 
inspiration — if  the  passage  be  a  number  of  doctrinal  texts, 
the  development  of  the  ground-idea  ;  if  it  be  a  narrative, 
the  aim,  sense,  and  lesson  of  the  whole.  In  a  word,  then, 
there  should  be  healthful  variety  in  the  ministrations  of 
the  pulpit.  Preachers  should  have  no  cast-iron  plan  of 
making  sermons,  no  bullet-mould  form,  but  should  intro- 
duce novelty  into  their  methods  of  presenting  truth,  not 
recurring  constantly  to  the  same  themes  ;  not  going  over 
and  over  the  same  beaten  path,  but  opening  the  infinite 
fields  of  truth  ever  fresh  and  green  ;  and,  above  all, 
preaching  with  adaptation  to  men's  wants,  sorrows, 
duties,  and  faults,  and  consulting  all  kinds  of  minds.  It 
should  be  remembered  by  the  preacher  that  the  world  is 
full  of  ignorance  and  sorrow  as  well  as  sin,  and  that  the 
comforts  and  hopes  of  the  gospel  are  addressed  not  only 
to  the  consciences  but  to  the  troubled  hearts  of  men 
■'-  borne  down  by  the  astonishing  changes  and  terrible  dis- 
appointments of  a  harsh  world.     If  preaching  is  indeed 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  449 

rooted  in  the  Word  of  God,  it  will  tend  to  have  this 
varied  originality  ;  all  the  plants  of  the  Lord's  garden 
will  appear  by  turns  in  their  manifold  beauty,  wet  with 
morning  dew,  and  there  will  be  eternal  freshness  in 
preaching.  But  we  now  proceed  to  a  form  of  sermon- 
izing which  has  been  and  is  still  held  by  able  men, 
and  which  deserves  a  respectful  consideration,  viz., 
the  theory  that  preaching  consists  pre-eminently  and 
even  exclusively  of  the  argumentative  discussion  of  the- 
ology. 

(f/,)  The  theological  sermon.  It  has  been  thought  that 
the  great  results  of  preaching  are  to  be  obtained,  and 
obtained  only,  by  the  ratiocinative  method 

of  setting  forth  doctrinal  truth.     Dr.  Em-  ®            ^ 

T^  T-1              T--     1            ,  theological 

mons,   Dr.  Eleazer  Fitch,  and  many  others       ^^ ^„ 

'                                            '                       ^  sermon. 

of  our  eminent  New  England  preachers,  both 
dead  and  living,  have  been  and  are  advocates  of  this 
theory.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher's  quaint  prescription  for  a 
sermon  was  that  it  should  be  "heavy  and  hot."  The 
style  of  his  preaching  has  been  characterized  in  the 
familiar  phrase  of  "  logic  on  fire."  Those  preachers  who 
were  mostly  of  a  revival  order — or  that  was  their  aim — 
like  Nettleton,  and  President  Finney  of  Oberlin,  a 
man  of  logical  mind,  and  bred  a  lawyer,  had  a  predomi- 
nance of  the  argumentative  element  in  their  sermoniz- 
ing ;  and  they  introduced  the  ratiocinative  method  with 
a  deliberate  purpose  to  reach  the  conscience  through  the 
reasoning  faculty,  and  thus  to  enhance  the  impression  of 
divine  truth.  The  sermon  was  set  whirling  with  the 
momentum  of  a  constantly  revolving  argumentation  and 
powerfully  increasing  reasoning,  that  it  might  strike  an 
indelible  die  on  the  heart.  Dr.  Alexander,  of  Princeton,  »- 
in  his  suggestive  work,  entitled  "  Thoughts  on  Preach- 
ing," was  in  favor  of  this  style  of  sermonizing,  which,  in 


45°  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

the  past,  has  been  the  chief  method  of  American,  and 
especially  New  England,  preaching.  Dr.  Fitch's  funda- 
mental conception  of  good  preaching  was  to  make  truth 
stand  in  a  clear  light  to  the  reason,  by  addressing  the 
understanding  with  those  irrefutable  arguments  that  are 
drawn  from  a  consistent  system  of  doctrinal  theology, 
appealing  to  the  laws  and  principles  of  the  mind  which 
are  cognate  to  the  truths  of  revelation.  "  The  gospel," 
he  said,  "  should  be  preached  as  a  system  of  consistent 
truth,  bearing  with  one  harmonious  design  on  the  great 
object  of  repentance  and  salvation.  Now  if  a  preacher 
of  the  gospel  would  hope  to  bring  its  salutary  power  on 
the  hearts  of  men,  he  should  enter  into  the  design  of  God 
in  this  very  respect,  and  set  forth  the  various  doctrines 
and  precepts  of  the  gospel  as  one  harmonious  system, 
having  in  all  its  parts  one  salutary  and  practical  bearing 
on  man.  The  harmony  of  which  we  speak  is  the  agree- 
ment of  the  truths  of  the  Scriptures  in  their  practical 
bearing  ;  the  harmony  not  only  of  the  doctrines  with  one 
another,  but  of  the  doctrines  with  the  precepts.  It  is 
obvious  that  a  system  of  doctrinal  representation  agree- 
ing with  itself  in  all  its  parts  might  be  made  out,  and  yet 
the  various  parts  in  themselves  be  erroneous  and  aside 
from  the  practical  intent  of  the  gospel.  But  we  refer 
to  that  system  and  harmony  which  exist  in  doctrines  ; 
their  agreeing  with  each  other  not  merely  in  abstract 
speculation,  but,  above  all,  in  this  respect  that  they 
have  all  one  practical  tendency,  lending  their  united 
power  to  the  one  object  of  promoting  faith  and  sal- 
vation. One  will  be  sustained  in  its  practical  bear- 
ing with  the  whole  force  of  all  the  others.  And  if 
there  is  any  way  of  making  bare  the  sword  of  the  Spirit 
and  presenting  it  to  the  heart  in  all  its  sharpness,  if 
there   is   any  way  of   presenting  the   full  power  of  the 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  451 

gospel  before  the  minds  of  hearers,  this  is  the  way." 
This  mode  of  argumentative  theological  preaching  he 
himself  followed  almost  exclusively,  as  the  art  of  moral 
persuasion  bearing  upon  the  reason  and  conscience.  In 
the  hands  of  such  a  man  (and  no  one  has  a  higher  opin- 
ion of  Ur.  Fitch  as  a  preacher  than  the  writer),  and 
of  such  men  as  Nathaniel  Taylor,  Lyman  Bcecher,  Dr. 
Emmons,  Samuel  Hopkins,  Jonathan  Edwards,  this  kind 
of  preaching  was  a  consistent,  powerful,  and  successful 
method  ;  for  it  had  strength  in  itself  and  strong,  good 
men  were  behind  it  ;  but  even  with  such  examples  we 
venture  to  say  that  this  is  not  the  only  method,  nor  the 
oldest  method,  nor,  perhaps,  in  the  main,  the  best  con- 
ceivable method  of  preaching  Christ.  Although  the  pres- 
entation of  theology  in  its  systematic  form  is  one  legiti- 
mate (as  much  so  as  the  ethical  or  the  exegetical)  depart- 
ment of  preaching,  and  although  Christian  "  doctrine," 
in  the  right  view  of  it,  is  the  staple  of  preaching,  yet 
unless  we  consider  theology  to  be  a  synonym  for  Scrip- 
tural teaching,  or  divine  truth,  which  it  certainly  is  not, 
since  our  most  orthodox  creeds  are,  as  their  technical 
name  is,  only  "  symbols"  of  the  faith — we  can  but  con- 
sider theological  preaching,  scientifically  such,  though 
true  and  fit  in  its  order,  to  be  partial  rather  than  uni- 
versal. It  has  its  proper  place.  Theology,  we  would 
say,  is  quite  indispensable  in  the  preacher  himself,  if  not 
always — or  too  much  of  it — in  the  sermon.  A  preacher 
should  be  ashamed  not  to  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  philosophy  and  literature  of  his  profession — even  as 
any  well-educated  lawyer  or  physician  has  of  his  profes- 
sion. Scientific  theology  is  a  department  of  learning  than 
which  there  is  none  higher,  for  it  comprehends  the  history 
of  the  struggles  of  the  best  and  purest  minds  the  world 
has  seen  to  reduce  to  principles  the  verities  of  religion, 


452  IfOMILE  TICS'  FRO  PER. 

although  theology  is  not  coextensive  with  religion.  The 
Bible  and  the  phenomena  of  spiritual  experience  given, 
men  have  attempted  to  bring  them  to  the  purely  dogmatic 
statement,  and  combine  them  in  a  system  harmonious  in 
its  parts — a  praiseworthy  effort  and  one  absolutely  in- 
evitable, since  the  reason  seeks  unity.  In  one  sense  a 
doctrine  which  has  no  idea  in  it  that  the  reason  can 
grasp,  which  is  not  apprehended  by  the  last  analysis  of 
the  judgment,  is  no  proper  object  of  faith,  or  even  of 
knowledge,  especially  if  we  view  reason,  not  merely  as 
the  faculty  of  judging,  but  as  the  organ  of  spiritual 
truth,  "  the  eye  of  the  mind  which  perceives  the  sub- 
stantial in  the  phenomenal."  Theology  is  also  a  pro- 
gressive science,  and  one  may  be  thus  ever  perfecting  his 
own  theological  system.  The  theological  discussions  of 
such  an  independent  and  vigorous  thinker  as  Mark  Hop- 
kins—  himself  a  humble  and  spiritual  Christian-— are 
among  the  most  elevating  and  educating  exercises  that  the 
mind  can  subject  itself  to,  and  the  closer  they  are  and 
the  more  concentrated  the  attention  they  demand,  the 
more  ennobling  is  their  influence,  carrying  the  mind  into 
the  world  of  divine  ideas  and  near  to  God,  the  supreme 
reason.  We  confess  that  there  is  to  us  an  austere  charm 
in  the  picture  of  such  a  primitive  New  England  theo- 
logian as  Nathaniel  Emmons  sitting  in  his  unadorned 
study — where  he  had  thought  and  worked  for  fifty  years 
— ever  ready  to  converse  with  his  parishioners  and  stu- 
dents on  high  subjects  :  of  God,  the  divine  purposes,  fore- 
knowledge, the  human  will,  sin,  faith,  and  redemption, 
as  if  these  things  were  the  only  real  things,  the  only 
things  worth  thinking  upon  or  living  for.  It  does  not 
present  to  us,  it  is  true,  the  picture  of  the  nearest  resem- 
blance to  Christ  as  a  teacher  and  pastor  of  souls,  but  it 
has  its  own  high   import  and  worth.     But  we  ought  not 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  453 

to  forget  that  it  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  not  man's  thinking, 
that  makes  the  strong  preacher  ;  that  enables  him  to  say 
"  He  teacheth  my  hands  to  v/ar,  so  that  a  bow  of  steel  is 
broken  by  mine  arms."  This  is  because  the  renewing 
power  is  divine,  and  the  mightiest  preaching  is  that 
which  is  "  with  the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  with 
power."  Men  are  gifted  with  freedom — they  are  to 
choose  God  freely — that  is  their  noblest  prerogative  and 
highest  obligation  ;  but,  in  the  death  of  sin  in  which 
they  lie,  the  Holy  Spirit  must  awaken  the  native  energy 
of  soul  to  love  and  obey  God,  "  for  it  is  God  which  work- 
cth  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do."  They  are  not  com- 
pelled nor  forced  to  act,  having  the  power  to  act  and  to 
resist  ;  but  as  they  are  acted  upon,  they  act ;  as  they  are 
moved,  they  move  ;  as  they  are  called,  they  obey,  and  by 
a  free  movement  of  the  human  will  with  the  divine,  they 
are  borne  on  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  mighty 
impulse  of  a  new  life  is  from  above,  and  without  it 
preaching  is  powerless.  "  It  is  not  of  man  that  willcth 
but  of  God  that  showeth  mercy."  Philosophical  think- 
ing has,  however,  its  important  uses  on  the  human  side 
of  the  preacher's  work.  It  is  seen  especially  in  the 
thoughtful  method  of  his  sermons.  Without  a  philos- 
ophy of  religion,  preaching  would  run  the  risk  of  being 
of  a  boneless  and  molluscous  sort.  It  would  fail  in  the 
quality  of  intellectual  substance.  It  v.'ould  also  lack 
depth,  which  is  the  power  to  arrive  at  principles  through 
a  great  number  of  individual  objects  and  circumstances, 
and  that  presupposes  a  penetrative  force  of  mind.  // 
ivoidd  he  a  sad  day  for  preaching  ivJien  the  intellectual 
eleinciit  was  left  07it  of  it.  It  must  not  lose  its  hold 
upon  thinking  minds.  There  can  be  little  religion  that 
is  worth  much  which  is  not  the  clear  act  of  the  intel- 
lect,   as    well    as    of    the    conscience,    the    will,   and    the 


454  HOMILLTICS    PROPER. 

affections.  He  who  views  truth  in  its  broadest  philo- 
sophical generalization  can  bring  to  bear  with  immense 
force  his  whole  system  upon  one  point,  like  the  com- 
plicated machinery  of  a  factory  that  all  comes  down  in 
one  trip-hammer  blow.  The  decline  of  interest  in  a  bib- 
lical theology  in  our  seminaries  and  pulpits,  if  not  com- 
pensated by  something  higher  and  better,  is  a  disastrous 
blow  to  preaching  ;  and  it  is  a  disastrous  blow  in  any 
event  ;  and  the  influence  of  the  great  modern  realistic 
and  practical  preachers  on  the  sermons  of  young  men  in 
respect  of  vagueness  and  obscureness  in  the  expression 
of  Christian  truth,  is  noticeable.  While  we  thus  hold  to 
theology  as  the  "  scicntia  scientiarinn,'"  and  to  its  place 
in  preaching,  yet  divine  truth  is  not  always  to  be  pre- 
sented in  a  strictly  philosophical  and  doctrinal  form — as 
is  never  done  in  the  Bible,  since  "there  is  not  a  single 
abstraction  in  the  Scriptures,"  '  but  also  in  concrete  and 
vital  methods. 

The  following  passage  is,  we  think,  to  the  point  : 
"  Where  religion  is  regarded  exclusively  or  principally  as 
a  matter  of  the  understanding,  there  the  tyranny  of  In- 
tellectualism  is  soon  felt.  It  is  this  tendency  which 
overrates  the  value  of  a  correct  conception  of  faith,  even 
to  the  detriment  of  the  spiritual  life,  and  confounds  the 
subjective  conception  of  truth  with  truth  itself.  This  in- 
tellectual bent  easily  degenerates  into  an  unhealthy 
gnostic  tendency,  which  attempts  to  grasp  religious  truth 
merely  by  the  reasoning  and  'speculating  understanding, 
and  confounds  thought  with  knowledge,  while  distinction 
between  religion  and  theology  is  gradually  lost.  Since, 
however,  this  system  must  not  only  be  formulated,  but 
also  defended,  the  Intellectualist  is  very  easily  drawn  into 


'  Shedd's  "  Homiletics  and  Pastoral  Theology,"  p.  78. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  455 

the  path  of  Doctrinalism,  which  discovers  the  nature  of 
reh"gion  exclusively  in  dogma  as  such.  Doctrinalism 
may  exhibit  the  form  of  Rationalism,  as  well  as  that  of 
supra-naturalism.  The  former  considers  reason  not 
merely  as  the  organ,  but  as  the  very  source  and  supreme 
arbiter,  of  religious  truth  ;  the  other  accepts  the  exist- 
ence and  the  contents  of  a  supra-natural  revelation,  but 
receives  this  rather  as  a  doctrine  announced  by  supreme 
authority.  The  adherent  of  the  last-named  view  easily 
becomes  a  strict  orthodoxist  with  regard  to  the  tradi- 
tional confession,  valuing  soundness  of  faith  even  at  the 
expense  of  the  faith  itself.  From  this  standpoint  the 
intellect  works  only  receptively,  whilst  with  the  rational- 
ist it  has  more  a  critical  sway.  Where  the  sovereignty 
of  this  partial  tendency  is  not  encountered  by  any  other 
forces,  it  may  finally  lead  the  believer  to  the  precipice  of 
unbelief,  the  Protestant  into  the  arms  of  Rome."  ' 

Theologians  of  the  most  orthodox  sect  sometimes  for- 
get that  revelation  is  mainly  in  the  sphere  of  pure  being, 
and  that  it  is  not  so  much  a  revelation  of  doctrine  as  of 
fact — of  the  most  significant  and  world-renovating  facts 
of  Christ's  life,  death,  resurrection,  ascension,  and  gift 
of  his  spirit  to  men  ;  that  by  a  corresponding  act  of 
faith  on  their  part  there  is  a  spiritual  reception  of  him 
— the  revealed  word  and  the  personal  Christ — in  the 
heart,  and  thus  the  actual  realization  of  an  eternal 
life.  This  is  a  matter  of  fact  and  spiritual  experience, 
sometimes  totally  inarticulated  by  the  breath  of  a  new- 
born life  in  the  soul  of  the  believer.  We  thus  do  not 
absolutely  need  a  philosophy  of  religion,  but  we  need 
religion.  Scientific  theology  brings  unrest,  but  faith 
brings  peace.     The  time  will  come,  doubtless,  when  faith 


'  Van  Oosterzee's  "  Cbristian  Dogmatics,"  vol.  i.  p.  94. 


45  6  no  MILE  TICS   PROPER. 

and  knowledge  shall  be  perfectly  correlated,  and  when 
that  which  is  objective  shall  be  one  with  what  is  subjec- 
tive in  religion  ;  but  that  time  is  distant.  The  preacher, 
as  has  been  often  said  in  these  lectures,  is,  first  of  all,  an 
■^  interpreter — he  is  a  pure  medium.  He  is  not  to  bring 
the  human  thought,  the  human  philosophy,  between  the 
heart  and  the  divine  w^ord.  His  own  mind  is  to  work 
upon  the  original  truth,  to  mould  it  into  teaching  forms, 
to  methodize  its  matter  into  abstract  principles  of  thought 
it  may  be,  but  mainly  he  is  to  interpret  it  simply  and 
spiritually  to  men,  to  render  it  pure  to  the  people,  that 
they  may  feed  upon  the  bread  of  life,  so  that  to  preach 
primarily  frojn  a  system  of  theology  instead  of  primarily 
from  the  Word  and  Spirit  of  God  is,  we  cannot  but  think, 
a  partial  and  one-sided  view. 

In  regard  to  the  introduction  of  the  argumentative  ele- 
ment itself  in  preaching,  none  but  a  man  who  is  totally 
ignorant  of  the  philosophy  of    mind  would 

ogic  in     e   jjgj^y  j^g  claims.      There   can   be  no   forcible 
pulpit. 

presentation  of  truth  to    the    reason  which 

is  not  itself  psychologically  rational,  or  is  not  based  upon 
a  true  philosophy  of  thought.  A  sermon  should  have 
logical,  in  opposition  to  illogical,  thinking,  and  re- 
^  quires  reasoning,  or  the  giving  of  reasons,  otherwise  it 
would  go  forth  unballasted  on  the  rough  and  stormy  sea 
of  human  opinion.  Logic,  regarded  in  its  highest  sense 
as  the  science  of  the  process  of  thought,  and  as  the  neces- 
sary evolution  of  the  reason,  cannot  and  should  not  be 
excluded  from  the  pulpit  any  more  than  it  should  be 
from  education.  The  study  of  the  classics  in  this  con- 
nection, even  of  Greek  particles,  commonly  held  to  be 
dry  and  unpractical,  as  showing  the  connection  of  thought 
and  hov/  the  ancients  syllogized,  as  illustrating  the  sci- 
ence of  reasoning,  and  the  art  or  philosophy  of  thought— 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  457 

this  is  by  no  means  without  its  value  in  training  the  mind 
of  the  preacher  to  think  and  reason  ;  but  formal  logic, 
which  treats  of  the  act  of  thinking  totally  aside  from  any 
relation  to  real  existence,  though  it  has  its  uses  in  philos- 
ophy, is  out  of  place  in  a  field  of  truth  where  the  laws  of 
the  forms  of  knowledge  are  of  little  importance  compared 
with  the  substance  and  contents  of  knowledge  itself,  or 
the  objective  reality  of  divine  things  ;  it  seems  mockery 
to  bring  the  barren  methods  of  the  schools,  the  endless 
and  enfeebling  analysis  of  scientific  theology,  into  the  pul- 
pit where  Christ  is  preached  to  sinful  men — it  is  feeding 
them  with  husks.  Religion  is,  primarily,  faith,  love,  and 
obedience,  not  logic.  Religion  subjectively,  is  the  sense 
of  dependence  upon  God,  and  objectively,  the  actual  re- 
binding  of  man  in  his  affections  and  purposes  to  God. 
It  necessarily  comprehends  the  intellect,  or  the  reason, 
and  also  the  will  ;  but  we  come  to  the  real  possession  of 
the  great  truths  of  God,  Christ,  Eternal  Life,  not  original- 
ly through  the  judgments  of  the  logical  understanding, 
but  vitally  through  the  soul's  apprehension  of  them  by 
faith  and  love,  through  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
through  the  intuitions  of  consciousness  and  of  the  higher 
reason  and  spirit  in  man.  "  Every  one  that  loveth  is 
born  of  God  and  knoweth  God."  Even  the  poetic  in- 
sight of  Schiller  enabled  him  to  see  this  when  he  wrote  : 

"  Allen  gehort  was  du  denkst  ;  dein  eigen  ist  nur  was  du  fiihlest, 
Soil  er  dein  Eigenthum  sein,  fiihle  den  Gott,  den  du  denkst." 

Men  are  often  most  illogically  saved.  Dr.  Emmons,  who 
preached  with  a  purpose,  force,  and  perspicacity  that  makes 
him  the  model  of  a  sermonizer  in  these  respects,  was 
often  borne  on  by  his  untempered  reasoning  into  positions 
and  statements  from  which  his  better  intuition,  if  he  had 
allowed  it  to  speak,  must  have  revolted.      He  shunned  no 


458  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

statement  that  his  primary  syllogism  forced  him  into. 
In  seeking  the  logical  he  forgot  the  higher  rational  and 
synthetic  relations  of  truth  ;  so  that  he  ran  the  risk  of 
crushing  souls  whose  moral  nature  was  at  all  sensitive  and 
just.  In  this  way  one  may  destroy  souls  logically.  In  this 
way  logic  is  weak  and  superficial.  Logic  and  philosophy 
may  become  as  unchristian  as  art  may  become.  The  higher 
truths  of  faith  cannot  be  philosopliically  formulated  and 
then  forced  upon  the  soul  with  the  hydrostatic  pressure 
of  argument.  The  argument  or  the  soul  is  shattered  by 
the  impact.  The  postulates  of  mathematics,  so  beautiful 
in  their  completeness,  do  not  fit  the  freely  undulating  sur- 
face of  spiritual  truth.  You  could  as  well  screw  down 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  with  a  copper  cover.  But  moral  and 
spiritual  truths  are  nevertheless  the  proper  subject  of 
right  reasoning. 
^  Robert  South,  a  highly  intellectual  though  not  spiritual 
preacher,  shows  us  how  we  may  reason  with  interest  and 
success  upon  moral  subjects,  because  he  did  not  run  into 
sheer  abstractions,  but  kept  his  feet  on  the  facts  of  human 
nature  and  experience.  He  did  not  strive  to  go  beyond 
w^hat  nature  and  the  Scriptures  taught  ;  he  was  a  sound 
and  robust  reasoner  ;  and  yet  he  is  a  very  poor  illustra- 
tion of  what  we  mean  compared  with  some  other  greater 
preachers,  and  with  Emmons  himself,  when  he  forgot  to 
be  the  mere  dialectician  and  became  the  practical  rea- 
soner of  the  gospel  with  sinful  men. 

In  all  proper  discourse  there  are  two  main  methods  of 
development — the  logical  and  the  oratorical,  the  first  being 
more  the  method  of  art  and  the  second  of  nature  ;  and  in 
the  reasoning  of  the  pulpit  the  method  of  art,  the  formal 
logic  of  the  schools,  is  not  so  fruitful,  nor  is  it  always  to 
be  preferred  to  the  living  modes  of  persuasion  that  the 
higher  reason,  the  imagination  and  the  heart,  and  above 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  459 

all,  the  Spirit   of   God,  teach.       The    sermon    should   be 
dynamic  rather  than  scientific  or  artistic.      It  should  be  a 
living    growth    rather   than    a  dead  work.      The    apostle 
Paufs  ^reasoning  (which  is  often  held  up  as  ^^^  ^^^^^^^ 
the    grand    model    of   argumentative    theo-        p^^^,^ 
logical  preaching)  was  natural,  spiritual,  in-     reasoning, 
spirational.      It  was    rhetorical,  too,  in    the 
best  sense   of   the   word.      He   was   an   analogical    rather 
than  strictly  logical  reasoner.     He   was    forensic    rather 
than  syllogistic.      He   never  uses  the  syllogistic  weapon 
that  Aristotle  had  already  shaped  and  sharpened  to  his 
hand,  since  he  was  doubtless  more  or  less  conversant  with 
the  forms  of  Greek  dialectics.      He  was  too  rapid  a  rea- 
soner and  too  much  in  earnest  to  play  with  a  method 
which  is  often  but  a  petitio  principii.     His  mind  was  emi- 
nently synthetic   rather  than    eminently    analytic.       He 
dealt  in  concrete   forms  of  truth   presented   in  all   their 
vividness.     The  "  cross  of  Christ,"  as  he  commonly  used 
the  phrase,  stood  to  him  for  all  that  Christ  was,  and  did, 
and  suffered  for  man.     The  "  blood  of  Christ"  was  the 
life  of  such  universal  and  representative  value  which  was 
poured  forth  for  the  sins  of  the  world.     There  is  a  train 
of  most  powerful   and  magnificent   reasoning   in   Paul's 
epistles  and  addresses,  appealing  to  the    understanding 
as  well  as  to  the  conscience  ;  but  often  it  is  as  artless  or 
inartificial  as  if  he  loved  the  truth-which  he  did— more 
than  the  argument.     He  seizes  upon  an  analogy  almost 
as  readily  as  upon  a  reason,  to   bring  out  his  thought. 
He    seems  sometimes  to  despise   rigid   reasoning.      He 
scatters  its  serried  links  to  the  winds.     He  is  readily  taken 
by  the  parallelisms  of  words,  by  associations  of  ideas,  by 
swiftly  glancing  aspects  and  resemblances  of  thought  that 
come'up  in  succession   from  a  mightily  working  intellect 
and  glowing  imagination  that  beheld  spiritual  truth  in  all 


4^0  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

things.  Thus  while  in  2  Cor.  9  he  is  discoursing  in  an 
unusually  systematic  way  of  the  duty  of  the  Church  in 
the  matter  of  giving  to  the  necessity  of  saints,  he  sud- 
denly ends  the  chapter  by  turning  the  attention  of  those 
whom  he  addresses  to  the  free  and  unspeakable  gift  of 
God  to  man — Jesus  Christ.  The  connection  of  thought 
in  this  passage  is  oratorical  rather  than  logical.  In  the 
second  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  he  meets 
the  objections  of  false  teachers  by  proving  the  great  fact 
of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead — his  actual 
ascension  from  the  tomb — and  then  he  goes  on  at  once  to 
show  by  a  kind  of  inspired  figure,  though  full  of  substance 
and  living  truth,  that  the  purely  spiritual  resurrection  of 
Christ  from  the  power  of  sin  and  death  draws  up  also  his 
believing  followers  along  with  him  into  his  risen  life  of 
holiness  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  There  is  in  this  far 
more  of  what  old  Thomas  Fuller  calls  "  the  oratory  of 
God  which  converts  souls"  than  of  rigid  logic.  In  this 
living  way  which  reached  the  conscience — the  "man  of 
the  heart" — making  Felix  tremble  as  "  he  reasoned  of 
righteousness,  temperance,  and  judgment  to  come." 
Paul's  preaching  was  successful  because  it  had  the  power 
and  voice  of  God  to  the  soul  in  it  ;  it  was  apodictic  and 
did  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men.  He  preached 
Christ  as  a  living  power  and  by  the  "  Spirit  of  Christ." 
Chrysostom  said  ''  He  converted  the  world  not  only  by 
miracles,  but  by  his  continual  preaching."  It  was,  in  a 
true  sense,  doctrinal  preaching  ;  and  doctrinal  preaching 
like  that  of  Paul  in  which  is  the  kernel  of  the  nut,  the 
marrow  of  the  bone,  in  which  is  the  essence  of  the  wisdom 
of  Christ,  the  life  of  the  Spirit,  is  true  preaching.  The 
truths  of  God  the  Creator,  creation,  the  law,  sin,  repent- 
ance, the  incarnation,  the  atonement,  faith,  the  new 
birth,  righteousness,   love,   eternal   life,  the   resurrection. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF   SERMONS.  461 

immortality,  the  judgment  and  the  awards  of  eternity — 
these,  with  their  mystery  and  solemn  depth,  mingling 
fear  and  hope,  awe  and  joy,  will  always  be  the  themes  of 
Christian  preaching,  because  these  truths  satisfy  the  soul. 
They  reach  the  deepest  hunger  and  trouble  of  sin.  They 
pacify  and  cleanse  the  conscience.  They  open  vistas  of 
light  and  hope  to  the  higher  spirit  in  man.  Natural 
truths  cannot  do  this  ;  they  go  no  further  than  nature 
goes,  with  the  apology  that  what  is  higher  is  unknow- 
able. But  Christ  makes  the  supernatural  truth  both 
knowable  and  known  ;  he  brings  the  hidden  things  of 
God  to  light.  "  Christ  and  him  crucified"  is  the  sum  of 
Pauline  preaching,  which  imparts  light,  heat,  and  move- 
ment to  all.  God's  love  is  here  focalized.  There  can  be 
nothing  higher,  nothing  deeper.  Faith  in  the  Christ 
who  died  for  the  life  of  the  world  is  the  way  to  pardon, 
purity,  and  eternal  life  ;  and  it  is  well  that  this  central 
truth  of  the  atonement  as  the  way  of  righteousness  is 
again  becoming  the  theme  of  the  deepest  interest  and 
most  intense  study,  and  that  new  light  is  streaming  in 
upon  what  might  be  called  the  human-divine  side  of  the 
nature  of  Christ,  opening  fresh  and  attractive  views  of 
this  doctrine. 

We  talk  much  of  "  doctrine,"  and  "  doctrinal  preach-^ 
ing,"  but  what,  after  all,  is  "  doctrine,"  but  simply  that 
which  is  "  taught"  by  God's  Word  and  Spirit  ?  Its  specu- 
lative sense  is  an  entirely  secondary  one.  Therefore,  we 
aver  that  it  is  better  and  more  natural  to  find  that  "  doc- 
trine," that  "  teaching,"  in  the  Scriptures  themselves — 
to  press  out  the  contents  of  inspiration,  and  present 
them  in  their  original  power  and  spiritual  pungency  to 
the  mind,  than  to  dilute  them  too  much  by  the  artificial 
processes  of  human  dialectics. 

Yet  let  us  not  be  understood  as  areuincr  acfainst  locfic. 


462  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

President  Finney  says  in  his  autobiography  that  a  cer- 
tain district  in  England,  where  he  was  laboring  at  the 
time,  needed  more  logical  preaching.  We  do  not  doubt 
it.  The  popular  religious  intellect,  it  may  be,  had  been 
enfeebled  by  hortatory  platitudes  or  ecclesiastical  senti- 
mentalisms  from  the  pulpit,  that  touched  no  living  inter- 
est and  aroused  no  profound  thought  in  men's  minds. 
The  logical  element  in  American  preaching  has  imparted 
to  it  a  strength  and  a  firm  consistency  that,  however  it 
may  be  lacking  in  other  qualities,  perhaps  still  more  im- 
portant, has,  in  these  respects,  made  it  superior  to  the 
English,  French,  and  German  pulpits.  The  logical  fac- 
ulty is  needed  to  try,  judge,  and  establish  positive  truth. 
It  tests,  squares,  and  lays  the  stones  furnished  at  its  hand. 
Every  mind  upon  whom  the  burden  of  instructing  others 
falls  should  have  the  discipline  which  a  severe  course  of 
logic  affords.  The  sermons  of  preachers,  especially  of 
beginners,  are  often  wofully  deficient  in  this  quality. 
They  could  not  stand  by  themselves.  They  topple  over 
with  an  adverse  breath.  Some  subjects  also  absolutely 
demand  logical  treatment  ;  and  every  genuine  "  dis- 
course" which  is  carefully  arranged  according  to  the  rules 
of  art  and  with  a  view  of  producing  a  particular  impres- 
sion upon  the  minds  of  hearers,  gains  force  from  a  clear 
plan.  Bourdaloue  said  he  could  forgive  anything  but  a 
poor  method.  We  argue  only  against  the  claim  some- 
times set  up  with  dogmatic  positiveness  that  the  rigidly 
logical  and  theological  method  is  the  only  productive 
method  in  the  search  and  treatment  of  spiritual  truth, 
and  that  it  is  the  exclusive  mode  of  reasoning,  of  persua- 
sion, of  converting  men  to  God.  Even  in  the  field  of 
revival  preaching  do  we  not  have  a  logical  Finney  and  an 
illogical  Moody  ?  We  contend  for  spiritual  freedom,  for 
nature,  for  God's  teachings  of  individual  genius,  for  rhetor- 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  463 

ical  and  scriptural  variety,  for  the  inspirations  and  illumi- 
nations of  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  feeling  as  well  as  argument, 
for  that  love  of  men  which  every  great  preacher  must 
have  in  his  heart  which  stamps  him  as  a  true  successor  of 
the  apostles,  and  without  which  the  cold  splendors  of  the 
intellect  play  and  shine  in  vain.  There  is  too  little  of 
this  Pauline  sensibility,  or,  as  the  French  say,  "  onction," 
in  our  American  preaching,  and  before  we  shall  see 
more  of  it  there  must  be  a  total  revolution  wrought  in 
our  whole  theor}''  of  preaching.  It  must  become  more 
truly  spiritual  ;  Christ  must  have  a  thorough  control  of 
the  being,  mind,  and  spirit  of  the  preacher.  Christ  must 
be  his  inner  life,  prompting  to  utterance.  He  must  draw 
from  those  divine  fountains  of  Christ's  heart,  those  hid- 
den inspirational  springs  that  issue  from  the  Holy  Spirit 
through  a  living  faith  in  that  great  union  of  the  divine 
with  the  human,  which  was  brought  about  in  the  incarna- 
tion and  work  of  the  Son  of  God,  vivifying,  deepening, 
spiritualizing,  making  divine  the  affections  and  energies, 
and  all  the  outflowings  and  expressions  of  the  human  spirit. 

The  earliest  preachers  were  spiritual,  prophetical,  and 
expository  preachers.  Chrysostom  preached  ethical  and 
expository  rather  than  theological  discourses.  Augus- 
tine, though  intensely  theological  in  his  other  writings, 
is  extremely  simple  and  practical  in  his  sermons.  Ber- 
nard of  Clairvaux  was  almost  altogether  an  exegetical  ser- 
monizer.  Luther,  though  his  pulpit  addresses  were  full 
of  polemic  theology,  had  also  besides  this  a  great  human 
heart,  nature,  wit,  sarcasm,  anecdote,  allegory,  passion- 
ate eloquence,  and  the  widest  and  most  intimate  use  of 
the  Scriptures. 

We  have  thus  far  spoken  of  the  variety  of  treatment 
which  subjects  of  divine  truth  discussed  in  the  pulpit 
should  have. 


4<>4  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

We    come    now,    under   this    general    subject    of    the 

classification    of   sermons  according   to    their   treatment 

and    form,    to   say    a    few  words    upon    the 

Form  of  the    ^^^.^^j    .  ^^^^  ^^  ^.j^^  sermon.      While  the  clas- 

sermon.  -r-  •         ^  • 

smcation    of    sermons    m    this   respect    has 

been  with  all  homiletical  writers  a  fruitful  one,  we  have 
already  suggested  that  the  simplest  method  of  classifica- 
tion would  be,  first,  into  the  textual  ;  secondly,  the  topi- 
cal, sometimes  called  "  subject  sermons  ;"  third,  the 
textual-topical.  A  more  elaborate  classification  which 
was  proposed,  would  regard  the  form  of  the  sermon  as 
depending  upon  the  manner  of  treating  the  text,  the 
manner  of  treating  the  subject,  and  the  general  rhetorical 
treatment,  and  would  bring  into  view  the  various  kinds 
of  textual,  topical,  expository,  doctrinal,  ethical,  his- 
torical, argumentative,  meditative,  and  hortatory  ser- 
mons ;  but  we  will  not  enter  into  this  wide  field,  or  re- 
peat what  has  been  said  on  these  points,  and  will  notice 
only,  for  a  moment,  the  two  grand  divisions  of  the 
textual  and  the  topical  forms  of  sermon. 

If  we  were  asked  what  style  of  sermonizing  should 
be  mainly  recommended,  not  by  any  means  as  the  ex- 
clusive one,  but  as  the  most  ordinary  method  of  preach- 
ing, year  in  and  year  out,  for  a  pastor's  regular  work  of 
instruction  from  the  pulpit,  we  should  answer,  that 
without  making  it  a  dry  excogitation  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  without  bibliolatry — for  the  Bible  itself  is  but  a 
book,  which  ought  not  to  be  worshipped,  and  only  Ilim 
whom  it  revealed  should  be  adored — the  expository 
should  be  employed,  or,  rather,  what  might  be  called 
the  "  textual"  as  contrasted  with  the  "  topical"  style  of 
discourse.  We  use  "  textual"  here  not  precisely  in  its 
technical  sense. 

A  "  textual  sermon,"  technically,  is  one  that  follows  in 


CLASS  IF ICA  TW.V  OF  SERMOXS.  4^5 

its  treatment   closely  the  words  of  the  text,  clause   by 

clause  and  word   by  word.     We  would  em- 

1.11  ii  •      ii  c       Textual 

ploy      textual     here,  rather  in  the  sense  of        d  t     "    I 

"  text  preaching,"  that  is,  making  the  text  sermons. 
the  absolute  subject  of  the  sermon,  and  not 
an  abstract  subject  evolved  from  the  text ;  holding  firmly 
to  the  text,  drawing  the  real  material,  the  real  thought, 
and  the  real  inspiration  from  the  word  of  Scripture.  It  is,  in 
fact,  "biblical  preaching"  instead  of  "  theme  preaching." 
It  takes  a  long  time  to  be  emancipated  from  the  tyranny 
of  the  topical  or  theme  sermon,  which  has  dominated 
over  our  pulpits.  This,  we  grant,  has  done  a  great  work, 
and  will  continue  to  do  so  ;  the  most  cultivated  audiences 
are  best  pleased  with  it  and  also  profited  by  it  ;  but  its 
exclusive  use  has  engendered  many  errors  of  preaching, 
and  has  sometimes  led  astray  from  the  true  object  of 
preaching.  It  has,  above  all,  spoiled  variety  and  free- 
dom. Topical  preaching,  as  has  been  hinted,  draws  from 
the  text  a  particular  theme,  or,  what  is  often  the  case, 
takes  a  topic  before  taking  a  text,  and  makes  that  topic 
the  subject  of  the  sermon.  Here  is  its  unity.  It  requires 
an  artistic  handling,  like  an  oration,  or  a  piece  of  sculp- 
ture. It  is  a  perfect  discourse  formed  upon  the  rules  of 
art.  It  is  something,  after  all,  outside  of  the  text, 
though  it  should  be  in  strict  accordance  with  it.  It  re- 
quires brief  texts  containing  complete  themes,  and  themes 
capable  of  didactic  development.  But  this  style  of  ser- 
monizing is  very  apt  to  lead  to  a  neglect  of  the  word  of 
God.  The  sermon,  in  fact,  hangs  on  the  proposition  or 
topic  instead  of  the  text  ;  and  how  many  wrong  topics, 
such  as  the  text  never  taught,  have  been  drawn  out  to 
serve  as  themes  of  this  kind  of  sermon  ;  e.g.,  by  a  German 
preacher,  who  made  the  subject  of  Acts  26  :  24,  "  Festus 
said  with   a  loud   voice,  Paul,  thou   art    beside    thyself  ; 


466  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

much  learning  hath  made  thee  mad" —  "  The  doubtful 
and  perilous  character  of  religious  enthusiasm."  A  ser- 
mon should  spring  up  from  the  word  of  God  studied 
within  the  circle  of  a  minister's  pastoral  duties,  needs, 
and  requirements  ;  and  while  sometimes  the  topic  will  be 
suggested  before  the  text  (though  we  think  this  is  not  a 
good  rule),  and  there  should  be  all  proper  freedom  here, 
since  the  pastor  has  two  books  to  study,  his  Bible  and  his 
people  ;  yet  when  the  text  is  once  chosen,  however  and 
whenever  done,  then  it  should  be  treated  with  honor  and 
thoughtful  attention,  as  the  utterance  of  God  upon  the 
specific  duty  or  subject  in  hand.  Topical  preaching  is 
needed  for  the  wants  and  emergencies  of  the  pulpit,  and 
will  continue  in  vogue,  and  all  will  follow  it  who  aim  at  a 
high  standard  of  scientific  excellence  in  sermonizing,  but 
uniformly  pursued  it  will  present  the  human  side  of 
preaching  predominantly,  will  hide  Christ,  and  injure 
the  cause  of  Christian  truth  ;  and  a  return  to  nature,  to 
biblical  preaching,  to  the  teachings  of  the  "  Spirit  of 
Christ,"  will  constitute  a  real  reform. 

Textual  preaching,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  have  ex- 
plained it,  where  the  text  forms  the  actual  basis  of  dis- 
course and  is  immediately  and  mainly  treated  of,  enables 
the  preacher  to  interpret  the  Word  of  God  more  closely  ; 
which  course  is  in  harmony  with  the  main  theory  already 
advanced,  that  preaching  is  primarily  interpretation— in- 
terpretation not  of  a  dead  but  living  sort,  adapted  to 
spiritual  awakening  and  persuasion.  It  also  enables  the 
preacher  to  employ  texts  that  comprise  longer  or  shorter 
portions  of  Scripture,  and  this  is  the  beauty  of  this  method, 
that  the  texts  may  be  longer,  and  thus  embrace  a  wider 
range  of  truth,  like  the  parables  of  our  Lord,  or  like  the 
extended  figures  in  the  15th  chapter  of  Luke,  i  Cor. 
9  :  24-27,    Eph.    6  :  14-17  ;    or   narrative    and    historical 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  467 

texts  ;  or  texts  containing  some  important  subject  fully- 
treated,  as  I  Cor.  13,  and  Mark  10  :  33-50  where  humil- 
ity is  the  underlying  lesson  of  the  whole  passage  ;  or 
meditative  texts,  as  many  of  the  Psalms,  in  which 
the  inmost  religious  life  of  the  writer  is  set  forth. 
The  textual  discourse  honors  the  word  of  God  by 
thus  keeping  near  to  it  and  dwelling  ever  upon  it.  It 
gradually  develops  the  riches  of  the  text,  following  it 
out  in  its  details,  not  perhaps  running  into  a  formal 
proposition  and  argument,  but  at  the  same  time  not  dis- 
regarding the  ground  truth  of  the  passage  {das  inneres 
Factum),  the  essential  unity  of  the  thought,  the  broad 
generalization  which  comprehends  the  whole.  It  has  a 
true  subject,  which  may  be  usually  defined  by  some  gen- 
eral title,  such  as  "  The  Centurion's  Faith,"  "  The 
Healing  of  the  Blind  Man,"  "  The  Golden  Rule,"  "  The 
New  Commandment."  Thus  the  teaching  is  brought 
directly  out  of  the  Scriptures  in  an  original  way,  in  all 
its  spiritual  power,  with  nothing,  as  it  were,  of  human 
invention  intervening  between  the  living  word  and  the 
living  hearts  of  men.  This  is  apt  to  be  edifying  preach- 
ing, feeding  souls  upon  the  bread  of  life.  This  kind  of 
preaching,  mixing  in  with  it  the  topical,  so  that  the  ser- 
mon shall  partake  of  the  synthetic  as  well  as  analytic 
character,  is  a  profitable  form  of  sermonizing.  This  was 
F.  W.  Robertson's  usual  way  of  preaching.  While  we 
would  thus  strongly  urge  a  return  to  biblical  preaching, 
as  coming  back  again  to  the  living  springs  of  power,  as 
being  the  most  spiritual  as  well  as  the  most  ancient  form 
of  pulpit  address,  continuing  until,  in  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries,  Greek  speculation  and  rhetoric  began  to  destroy 
the  free  exposition  of  Scripture  and  the  inartificial  style 
of  interlocutor^'-  address  or  homily,  and  to  mould  the 
discourse    upon  the  formal  principles  of   Greek   art,  yet 


468  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

we  would  not  be  understood  as  denying  art  and  philoso- 
phy their  proper  place  in  the  sermon. 

Thought  implies  art.      Emerson  says,  "  The  conscious 

utterance  of  thought  by  speech  or  action,  to  any  end,  is 

art."     As  Christian  truth  meets  the  advance 

^'■^^  of  civilization  and   the  needs  of  occidental 

1  erary    ^]-jQy(T]^|-    j^-  assumes,  doubtless,  to  a  certain 

power 

;„  ^„..„^„^     extent,  the  forms  of  cultivated  thought.     It 
in  sermons.  '  ° 

may  do  this  if  it  does  not  depend  upon 
this  method  for  success.  A  mind  of  severe  philosophical 
culture,  like  that  of  F.  W.  Robertson,  is  apt  to  get  at  the 
heart  of  a  subject  and  the  heart  of  a  hearer  more  readily 
than  a  half-educated  man  can  do.  Perhaps  also,  as  a 
matter  of  secondary  moment,  there  is  greatly  needed  in 
our  modern  sermons  the  interest  of  fresh  thought.  Origi- 
nality, says  Goethe,  is  clothing  old  truths  in  a  new  garb. 
Beauty  is  ever  new  while  truth  is  old.  Nature  may 
sometimes  be  ugly,  but  she  has  infinite  variety,  and 
the  desert  itself,  to  a  scientific  or  aesthetic  eye,  is  never 
utterly  uninteresting  and  unprofitable.  The  pulpit  of 
the  present  day  has  more  formidable  rivals  than  perhaps 
it  ever  had.  The  book,  the  review,  the  lecture,  even 
the  daily  newspaper,  constantly  dazzle  by  their  bright 
discoveries  and  new  ideas.  If  preachers  cannot  learn 
to  write  in  the  same  vigorous  and  idiomatic  English 
style,  teeming  with  fresh  thoughts — the  food  of  the  intel- 
lectual hunger  of  this  age — that  Tyndall  and  Darwin  and 
Huxley  employ,  how  can  they  compete  with  these  men  ? 
Not,  assuredly,  by  repeating  and  indorsing  all  their  phi- 
losophy ;  but  that  preachers  can  compete  even  with  such 
brilliant  men  upon  their  own  ground,  considering  the 
subject  solely  on  this  literary  plane,  our  own  New  Eng- 
land prince  of  preachers,  Dr.  Bushnell,  is  a  striking  ex- 
ample.    Power  despises  criticism,  and  there  was  certainly 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  469 

native  as  well  as  spiritual  power  in  this  man  beyond  his 
art.  His  "  faith-talent"  alone  (to  use  his  own  phrase) 
surpassed  his  literary  and  intellectual  gifts,  brilliant  as 
they  were  ;  and  in  fact  it  is  a  question  whether  so  strong 
and  original  a  genius  as  his  could  have  developed  to  its 
full  perfection  unless  it  had  burst  its  way  through  the 
rigid  conditions  of  a  particular  school  of  religious  thought. 
But  he  took  old,  biblical,  common  truth,  and  made  it 
luminous  in  his  intense  realization  of  it. 

He  spoke  to  earnest,  honest  minds,  whether  educated 
or  illiterate,  because  he  pierced  beneath  the  surface  of 
the  accidental  and  touched  the  real  man,  the  common 
reason,  conscience,  and  heart.  He  was  great  enough  to 
be  popular,  and  yet,  like  Robertson,  he  despised  popu- 
larity, and  restrained  himself  from  saying  anything  be- 
cause it  was  popular  ;  breasting  the  tide  of  public  opinion 
like  a  strong  swimmer.  His  childlike  delight  in  God's 
works  and  his  susceptivity  to  the  poetry  of  the  natural 
world  into  whose  spiritual  symbolism  his  prophetic  in- 
sight penetrated,  took  whatever  he  said  out  of  common- 
place and  stamped  it  with  fresh  beauty.  He  helped  to 
unbind  the  imagination  and  to  give  freedom  and  play  to 
the  aesthetic  faculty  in  the  Puritan  pulpit.  One  spark  of 
God  and  nature  is  enough  to  give  the  preacher  power. 
Dr.  Bushnell  had  broad  views  of  his  great  office  as  an  inter- 
preter of  the  "  Word."  The  whole  world  was  to  him  a 
thought  of  God,  was  full  of  God  and  of  his  ideas,  so  that 
he  could  not  close  his  eyes  to  anything  that  was  divine  in 
the  world,  or  in  man,  or  in  literature  (which  is  the  soul  of 
man  embodied  in  thought),  or  in  art,  which  is  the  study 
of  the  beauty,  rhythm  and  harmony  of  God's  mind. 
Should  not  every  man,  he  held,  be  a  Milton  if  he  could 
be  one  ?  Should  not  every  man  be  a  Michael  Angelo  if 
he  could  be  one  ?     Should  not  every  man  be  a  Paul,  or 


47°  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

a  John,  if  he  could  be  one  ?  He  had  no  petty  views  of 
the  preacher's  work.  He  set  to  it  no  narrow  and  con- 
ventional metes  and  bounds,  but  regarded  it  as  the  high- 
est and  most  comprehensive  calling  in  the  world — the 
work  of  reading  the  mind  and  love  of  the  infinite 
"  Word,"  and  teaching  these  to  men,  so  that  they  should 
love,  obey,  and  grow  themselves  Christlike,  His  crea- 
tive imagination  that  made  all  things  new  ;  his  knowledge 
of  living  facts  and  of  men,  his  mastery  of  the  hidden 
sources  of  language  wherein  it  is  tropical,  emotional, 
original,  were  brought  to  bear  in  the  pulpit.  He  dis- 
comfited, as  by  a  stroke  of  lightning,  the  demon  of  ser- 
monic  dulness.  How  could  he  be  dull  with  such  bold 
originality,  such  scope  of  illustration,  such  "  sweetness 
and  light"  springing  from  his  inner  spiritual  life,  such  a 
hearty  and  manful  sympathy  with  truth  and  with  the 
struggles  of  other  minds  in  their  search  after  truth  ?  He 
confessedly  sought  truth  before  orthodoxy,  preferring  the 
unfading  crown  of  God  to  the  withering  crown  made  by 
men's  hands.  Thus  while  he  preached  on  the  most  lofty 
and  supernatural  themes  he  brought  to  his  feet  unbe- 
lievers, doubters,  humanitarians,  nothingarians,  hard  in- 
tellects, worldly  and  wicked  men,  as  well  as  holy  men  and 
believers.  He  convinced  them  that  there  was  somethincr 
divine  in  this  gospel  that  he  preached.  His  large  liber- 
ality, caught  from  communion  with  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
took  away  the  arguments  of  sceptics  ;  and  the  minds  of 
men  were  astonished  and  overwhelmed  and  borne  down 
with  the  resistless  force,  the  gracious  magnanimity,  and 
the  celestial  majesty  of  the  truth  he  uttered.  Who  can 
say  that  the  pulpit  has  lost  power  with  thoughtful  men, 
let  them  be  of  what  cast  of  philosophical  opinion  they 
may,  when  such  preachers  as  Rushnell,  and  Robertson,  and 
Schleiermacher,  and    Lacordaire,  have   lived  and  spoken, 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMOA'S.  471 

and  the  air  is  still  vibrant  with  their  nervous  words  ?  Yet 
these  men  did  not  speak,  we  believe,  merely  to  be  elo- 
quent— ad  complendas  aurcs.  They  obeyed  the  impulse 
of  a  deeper  inspiration.  Some  of  the  best  models  of  ser- 
mons, in  a  purely  literary  point  of  view,  that  combine  this 
fresh  thinking  with  a  free,  strong,  natural,  and  at  the 
same  time  exquisitely  moulded  literary  style — satisfying 
the  highest  taste  and  yet  open  as  the  day  to  the  uncul- 
tured mind — are  those  of  J.  H.  Newman  before  their 
true  light  was  confused  and  obscured  by  the  sombre  and 
unprogressive  ecclesiasticism  of  the  Romish  Church. 

In  this  connection,  and  as  having  also  a  great  deal  to 
do  with  the  form  of  sermonizing,  we  would  remark  that 
the  development  of  science  adds  a  new  ele- 
ment of  power  to  the  enlightened  pulpit  of 

^  ^  ^     ;  in  the  pulpit, 

this    day,    because    the   knowledge     of    the 

laws  and  facts  of  the  natural  world  increases  our  knowl- 
edge of  God.  In  a  scientific  age  preaching  takes  more 
or  less  of  a  scientific  form.  The  preacher  of  light 
should  gladly  welcome  every  opening  of  the  great  volume 
of  facts  which  God  has  written  in  the  physical  universe. 
"  There  is  no  rest  possible  for  man  in  nescience,  in  nega- 
tion. He  needs  a  rock  and  not  the  pivot  of  a  balance  to 
sustain  him."  The  relation  of  the  pulpit  with  science  is, 
to  our  mind,  a  theme  promising  much  of  novel  interest 
and  profound  value.  The  preacher  should  rejoice  in  this 
revival  and  mighty  stir  of  scientific  thought,  in  whose 
troubled  waters  he  can  cast  his  line  ;  since  the  most  vio- 
lent disturbance  is  better  than  stagnation  in  regard  to 
knowledge,  whether  spiritual  or  material.  He  should 
prove  to  the  world  that  the  Christian  Church  pos- 
sesses an  intellectual  vigor  equal  to  all  demands  made 
upon  it,  and  that  it  is  able  to  cope  with  living  prob- 
lems.    He,  the   follower  of  truth,  ought    to    cultivate    a 


472  IIOMILETICS    PROPER. 

catholic  mind  which  is  hospitable  to  new  ideas,  nor 
should  he  look  with  a  narrow  jealousy  upon  the  ad- 
vance of  science,  since  science  is  but  the  formal  recogni- 
tion of  proven  knowledge.  That  is  true  science  which 
presents  to  us  facts  which  are  the  fruits  of  induction,  and 
are  capable  of  proof  and  logical  classification,  of  exact 
statement,  in  whatever  field  of  knowledge  the  pursuit 
may  be.  The  truth  of  revelation  cannot  be  imperilled  by 
the  progress  of  true  science  ;  and,  moreover,  as  the  two 
do  not,  as  a  general  rule,  move  in  the  same  plane,  it  is 
lost  time  spent  in  trying  to  reconcile  science  and  the 
Bible.  At  the  same  time,  the  spirit  of  inquiry  which  de- 
velops the  laws  of  the  natural  universe,  while  it  narrows 
the  domain  of  superstition,  facilitates  the  interpretation 
of  God's  moral  and  spiritual  manifestation  of  himself  in 
his  word  and  in  human  consciousness  ;  not  willingly 
always,  for  the  labors  of  some  modern  scientists  are  like 
the  strokes  of  giants  guided  by  a  higher  intelligence  than 
their  own,  so  that  they  build  better  than  they  know. 
But  in  spite  of  the  atheistic  intent  impelling  their  activity, 
and  in  spite  of  their  stopping  in  the  material  world,  which 
furnishes  no  explanation  of  force,  mind,  and  spirit,  they 
are  none  the  less  the  authors  of  spiritual  light.  They  are 
men  of  bright  intelligence,  essentially  of  the  light.  The}'- 
should  be  regarded  with  gratitude  and  with  patient  hope 
as  co-laborers  in  the  field  of  truth.  Take  even  the  much- 
berated  Darwinian  theory,  for  example,  has  it  not  already 
widened  our  vision  of  physical  knowledge  ?  It  is  but  one 
phase  of  the  problem  of  creation,  which  has  regard  mainly 
to  the  mode  of  divine  causation,  and  is  consistent  with  a 
divine  theory  of  the  universe.  It  denies,  it  is  true,  the 
necessity  of  a  new  creative  act  in  the  production  of  new 
species,  but  relegates  all  to  an  original  power  impressed 
upon    nature,    which,  through    the    working    of    certain 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  473 

change-producing  laws,  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the 
formation  of  species  and  the  progress  of  the  race  without 
further  intervention  of  creative  power.  It  thus  denies 
the  action  of  blind  force,  and  asserts  the  uniform  reign 
of  law.  It  has  seized  upon  a  certain  great  truth  of  cos- 
mic development,  of  the  existence  of  the  working  influ- 
ence of  law,  of  the  evolution  of  higher  out  of  lower  forms, 
of  the  principle  of  orderly  progress  in  creation  which 
has  long  ago  been  observed,  but  never  before  so  clearly 
emphasized  and  reduced  to  scientific  analysis.  It  seems 
as  if  heretofore  we  had  simply  taken  the  truth  of  crea- 
tion— that  God  created  the  universe — and  were  satisfied 
with  that,  perhaps  wisely  so  ;  now  the  Darwinian  scien- 
tist searches  under  this  grand  truth  into  the  modes  of  cre- 
ation, and  is  not  this  legitimate  ?  Through  his  guidance 
we  seem  to  be  catching  glimpses  of  one  of  those  simple 
laws,  like  that  of  gravitation,  upon  which  God  invariably 
works — the  law  of  evolution  in  the  creation  of  the  forms 
of  organic  life.  We  catch  here  and  there  fragments  of 
this  great  law,  if  law  it  be.  At  enormous  intervals  we 
seem  to  see  through  the  mist  of  past  ages  the  substantial 
evidence  of  a  creative  plan  or  law  of  evolution.  But  it 
is  as  yet  fragmentary.  It  is  unestablished  and  unproved. 
Darwinism,  by  the  confession  of  its  most  credible  teach- 
ers, cannot,  upon  its  admitted  principles,  account  for  all 
the  facts  of  the  universe.  It  is,  therefore,  open  to  doubt. 
While  there  is  much  in  its  favor,  there  is  a  great  deal  to 
be  said  upon  the  other  side.  There  is  so  much  to  be 
said,  that  Darwinism,  technically  speaking,  may  be  en- 
tirely untrue.  Nevertheless  it  is  deserving  of  a  candid 
and  patient  hearing,  especially  from  the  theologian,  who 
is  more  deeply  interested  in  it  than  any  man  outside  of 
the  pure  scientist  ;  and  while  we  believe  that  the  Dar- 
winian theory,  technically  speaking,  has  as  yet  failed  to 


474  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

establish  its  proofs,  that  the  missing  links  have  not  been 
found,  that  the  fathomless  gaps  which  separate  lower  from 
higher  life,  which  separate  life  from  no  life,  have  not 
been  bridged  over,  we  think  that  the  arguments  against 
Darwin's  view  sometimes  exhibit  an  inexcusable  want  of 
thorough  appreciation  of  what  his  theory  of  ontology  is  ; 
and  many  of  the  replies  made  to  scientific  doubt  by 
theologians  and  preachers  are  injudicious,  often  weak. 
They  evince  timidity  as  well  as  ignorance.  Scientific  in- 
fidelity should  be  met  by  scientific  knowledge,  not  only 
knowledge  of  the  facts  of  the  natural  universe  but  of 
archaeology  and  of  a  true  historic  criticism.  Is  not  every- 
thing aiding  the  elucidation  of  truth,  from  the  revelations 
of  the  highest  physical  science,  the  remarkable  facts  of 
ethnological  research,  and  the  brilliant  era  in  philological 
investigation,  to  the  last  Egyptian  discovery  or  broken 
fragment  of  cuneiform  inscription  from  new-risen  Chaldea 
and  Assyria  ?  The  battle  may  be  hard,  but  there  is  no 
doubt  of  the  result  where  the  gospel  of  hope  contends 
against  the  gospel  of  despair.  Protestantism  and  true 
science  are  one. 

The  pulpit  of  this  age,  in  order  to  meet  its  wants,  must 
be,  as  has  already  been  said,  to  a  certain  extent  scien- 
tific ;  for  the  scientific  statement  of  truth  is  the  most 
exact  statement,  and  the  inductive  and  scientific  is 
healthfully  corrective  of  the  ultra  tendencies  of  the 
metaphysic  and  deductive  method.  Science  and  religion 
may  be  of  mutual  help  to  each  other,  for  the  one 
searches  the  causes  of  natural  phenomena,  the  other  the 
cause  of  causes — "  science  is  nature  revealed,  while  re- 
ligion is  nature's  God  revealed."  The  Christian  pulpit 
has  always  claimed  the  liberty  to  discuss  scientific  ques- 
tions where  they  cross  lines  of  revelation,  having  an  ex- 
ample in  the  apostle  Paul,  who  suggests  in  his  discourse 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  475 

at  Athens  the  necessity  and  mode  of  meeting  philosophic 
denial,  as  he  met  the  atomic  theory  of  the  Epicureans 
which  has  come  around  again  in  our  day — by  kindness, 
wise  firmness,  and  an  intelligent  presentation  of  the 
truth,  so  congenial  to  human  reason,  of  a  personal 
Creator.  The  preacher  must  be  willing  to  come  down 
from  the  region  of  abstractions  to  meet  error  in  the  con- 
crete forms  of  a  materialistic  philosophy,  which  is  the 
present  phase  of  denial.  Pure  theism  is  a  proposition 
which  can  be  defended  scientifically  as  well  as  meta- 
physically, without  dogmatism  and  unchristian  bitter- 
ness, and  with  the  very  weapons  that  science  herself  so 
liberally  furnishes.  Already  those  who  have  lived  a 
quarter  of  a  century  in  the  thinking  world  have  seen  great 
scientific  names  —  even  such  a  name  as  that  of  John 
Stuart  Mill  —  waning  with  the  theories  belonging  to 
them,  which  theories,  though  now  subsided,  we  are  will- 
ing thankfully  to  confess  have  left  behind  them  much 
good  and  enrichment,  with  the  devastation  they  have 
occasioned. 

The  extreme  limits  of  atheistic  principles  which  have 
been  already  attained  indicate  a  reaction  to  a  sounder 
philosophy,  a  more  rational  and  truly  scientific  theory  of 
being.  This  the  pulpit,  with  a  divinely  nurtured  intel- 
ligence, should  aid,  as  something  correlated  to  its  higher 
aim  and  work  ;  since,  in  one  sense,  the  kingdom  of  spirit 
is  built  up  from  beneath  by  such  means  ;  and  we  have 
been  of  the  opinion  that  Christian  thought  has  heretofore 
ignored  too  much  the  importance  of  those  lower  physical 
and  material  facts  which  have  their  influence  upon  the 
gradual  improvement  of  the  race  by  the  harmonious 
working  of  physical  and  moral  laws  ;  but  we  would  in 
no  sense  depend  upon  scientific  culture,  any  more  than 
upon  philosophic  and  literary  culture  for  the  power  of 


476  HO  MILE  TICS    PROPER. 

the  pulpit— if  we  do  God  sends  his  prophets  in  the  guise 
of  herdsmen  and  coal  miners  to  break  the  illusion — but 
at  the  same  time  Luther  himself  did  not  despise  the 
aids  of  learning,  literature,  art,  and  eloquence,  and  if  he 
had  lived  in  these  days  he  would  joyfully  have  hailed 
science  also  as  a  handmaid  of  Christian  persuasion,  while 
he  would  have  despised  it  as  compared  with  the  power  of 
a  spiritual  faith,  of  a  living  Christ. 

In  the  forms  of  the  sermon,  in  the  modes  of  present- 
ing divine  truth  to  the  people,  therefore,  we  contend  for 
a  generous  and  wholesome  breadth  of  treatment,  taking 
in  the  whole  nature  of  man  ;  for  absolute  freedom  within 
the  true  sphere  of  the  Christian  preacher  ;  for  a  cheerful 
hope  in  humanity  ;  for  the  use  of  every  genuine  method 
of  persuasion  and  every  form  of  effective  address  which 
nature,  true  sympathy,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  teach. 

In  concluding  these  remarks  upon  the  general  subject 
of  the  classification  of  sermons  according  to  their  treat- 
ment and  form,  and  the  discussion  of  the  best  forms  of 
preaching,  the  suggestion  would  be  in  place  that  some  reg- 
ular course  of  pulpit  instruction  is  advisable — something 
like  a  plan  that  embraces  a  long  period,  per- 

genera      j^^pg  ^  season,  or  a  year  ;  like  the  method  of 
plan  in 
ureachina-      Orderly  reading   and  expounding  the   Scrip- 
tures in  the  English,  German,  and  Lutheran 
churches;   in  fact  the  system  of  "the  Christian  year." 
A  campaign,  carefully  planned  beforehand    in  all  its  de- 
tails, sometimes  shows  astonishing  results,  as  seen  in  the 
Prussian  part    of    the    German-French   war.     The    very 
lines  of  operation  that  were  laid  down   in   the  silence  of 
the  study  months  before  were  strictly  followed  out,  and 
the  enemy  was  forced  to  do  just  what  his  more  prescient 
adversaiy  had  marked  out  for  him  to  do.     We  do  not  be- 
lieve in  quite  such  a  rigid  system  of  operation  in  the  spirit- 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  477 

ual  field,  but  certainly  a  comprehensive  intelligence  should 
preside  over  it,  and  on  beginning  his  work,  and  begin- 
ning every  new  year  of  his  ministry,  the  preacher  would 
do  well  to  have  some  clear  idea  of  what  he  is  intending 
to  do,  and  what  should  be  the  style,  method,  and  aim 
of  his  preaching,  whether  it  should  be  doctrinal  or  prac- 
tical, of  a  revival  or  didactic  character,  governed  often  by 
the  character  and  wants  of  the  people,  by  the  changing 
seasons  of  the  year,  and,  above  all,  by  the  guidings  and 
movings  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

We  would  reiterate  the  recommendation  already  made, 
that,  under  the  condition  that  the  purpose  of  preaching 
is  right,  that  it  is  unselfishly  aimed  at  the  spiritual 
good  of  the  hearers,  that  it  is  the  truth  as 

it   is  in    Tesus,  the   greater  variety  that  the       a^ie  y  i 

.  .  preaching, 

preacher   can   give    to    his    style   and    form 

of  sermonizing  the  better.  As  has  been  hinted,  every 
sermon  should  exhibit  this  variety;  it  should  not  be 
exclusively  doctrinal  without  the  practical  element,  nor 
should  it  be  entirely  practical  without  the  doctrinal 
and  didactic  element.  Our  modern  revivals,  it  is  said, 
reach  the  great  middle  classes  of  society  ;  but  they 
do  not  reach  the  two  extremes  —  the  intellectual  or 
the  working  classes.  But  preaching  should  be  such 
that  all  should  be  reached.  For  a  man  to  preach 
exclusively  sermons  addressed  to  the  logical  under- 
standing, is  like  feeding  a  child  upon  only  one  kind 
of  food  ;  he  must  sometimes  preach  some  sermons  ad- 
dressed more  exclusively  to  the  affections — hortatory  and 
awakening  sermons.  Historical  sermons  and  sermons  es- 
pecially upon  the  life  of  our  Lord,  with  their  multitude  of 
lessons  to  the  present  time  and  to  the  universal  soul  of  man 
—truly  Christian  discourses— are  very  interesting  as  well 
as  enriching.     There  should  be  this  attractive  element  of 


478,  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

variety  in  sermonizing  ;  a  discourse  on  the  application  of 
the  Christian  principle  to  political  economy  now  and  then 
interposed  among  discourses  of  a  more  purely  religious 
character,  might  lead  some  minds  to  enlarged  views  of 
duty  and  new  apprehensions  of  the  responsibility  of 
citizenship.  But  it  seems  to  us  extremely  unfortunate 
when  a  preacher  runs  on  an  iron  track  of  sermon- 
izing— let  it  be  a  theological  style  of  preaching,  where 
the  sermon  is  but  the  reproduction  of  theological  treat- 
ises ;  or  a  sentimental  style  of  preaching,  where  ser- 
mons are  little  more  than  pathetic  illustrations  and  pic- 
ture-drawing ;  or  moralizing  preaching,  where  the  sermon 
never  rises  into  the  heights  and  glories  of  the  supernat- 
ural truth.  And  we  would  even  say  that  a  preacher  may 
dwell  too  much  and  too  long  in  the  supernatural  re- 
gions of  thought,  so  that  he  himself  shall  become  a 
kind  of  spiritualized  essence,  dehumanized  and  bloodless, 
sublimated  beyond  human  feelings  and  passions,  and 
having  no  power  to  come  down  to  the  wants,  interests, 
and  sympathies  of  living  men.  Such  a  man  ought  to  be 
put  in  a  glass  case  and  enshrined  on  the  top  of  the 
steeple.  Let  us  return  to  biblical  preaching  and  then 
we  will  get  this  variety.  Let  us  have  a  simpler  and 
more  primitive  and  apostolic  style  of  instruction,  drawn 
freshly  from  the  Scriptures  of  God's  truth,  and  from 
nature.  The  preacher  is  called  upon  to  exercise  con- 
stantly his  best  invention,  the  genius  God  has  given  him, 
to  introduce  an  interesting  and  healthful  style  of  sermoniz- 
ing addressed  to  all  classes.  Let  him  adapt  divine  truth 
to  the  real  wants  of  his  hearers,  studying  those  wants.  Let 
him  not  strike  ever  the  same  chord  that  renders  back  a  ter- 
rible and  gloomy  tone — sin  and  perdition — solemn  truth  ; 
but  is  this  the  only  string  of  divine  harmonious  truth  that 
the  gospel  has  ?     Let  him  not,  on  the  other  hand,  see  noth- 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  479 

ing  but  the  hopeful  side  and  dare  not  draw  the  dark  pic- 
ture, so  that  his  preaching  lacks  shadow,  background, 
and  power.  Let  him  not  in  like  manner  deal  with  the 
metaphysic  and  philosophic  dogma  till  he  dries  up  the 
fountains  of  his  hearers'  hearts  as  with  the  breath  of  a 
desert-wind  ;  neither  let  him  dwell  so  entirely  in  the 
busy,  unreasoning  present  of  fact,  that  thinking  minds 
are  not  helped  in  their  metaphysical  and  philosophical 
difficulties,  and  do  not  get  to  the  foundations  of  truth, 
rationally  speaking.  Here,  then,  is  scope  afforded  for 
the  best  talent,  the  most  fruitful  invention,  the  boldest 
imagination,  the  keenest  study  of  human  nature,  and 
the  most  active,  growing  spiritual  knowledge  and  faith. 

Sec.   21.     Classification    of    Sermons    according    to    their 
method  of  delivery. 

From  the  fact  that  the  manner  of  delivery  shapes  the 
conception  and  plan  of  the  sermon,  and  bears  directly 
upon  the  whole  object  and  design  of  preaching,  a  course 
of  lectures  upon  Homiletics  would  be  imperfect  which 
did  not  give  careful  attention  to  this  subject  ;  and  so 
great  is  its  importance  in  a  practical  point  of  view,  that 
we  have  reserved  it  for  the  last  place,  where  indeed  it 
logically  belongs. 

We  sometimes  listen  to  thoughtless  flings  against 
theological  seminaries  that  the  art  of  orator}^  is  not  cul- 
tivated at  the  present  day  by  them. 

It  would  be  more  proper  to  charge  modern  civilization 
itself  with  a  neglect  of  the  rhetorical  art  which  was  once 
considered  to  be,  as  in  the  old  Greek  state,  the  crown  of 
a  liberal  education.  Many  causes  might  be  adduced  for 
this  ;  but  while  the  charge  against  theological  seminaries 
is  not  an  entirely  just  one,  and    while  we  venture  to  say 


480  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

that  at  this  moment  more  attention  is  paid  in  our  best 
theological  schools  to  oratory,  than  in  the  colleges,  law 
schools,  or  other  educational  and  professional  institutions 
of  the  land,  much  more  should  be  done.  Theological 
schools,  instead  of  bending  all  their  aim  to  make  learned 
theologians,  should,  while  doing  this,  make  their  pre-emi- 
nent object  the  turning  out  of  effective  preachers.  All 
their  instruction,  of  whatever  kind,  should  aim  at  this. 

The  Christian  orator  in  the  pulpit,  as  he  has  the  noblest 
field,  so  he  should  have  the  loftiest  ideal  of  the  orator, 
the  "great  orator,"  who,  Quintilian  said,  "had  not  yet 
appeared,  but  who  would  appear  hereafter,  and  who 
would  be  as  consummate  in  goodness  as  in  eloquence." 
The  age  of  the  Reformation  was  a  period  of  marked  elo- 
quence in  the  pulpit.  Concerning  the  eloquence  of  Cal- 
vin, Farel,  and  Viret,  an  epigram  of  Theodore  de  Beza  is 
recorded,  to  this  effect,  that  "  Never  one  showed  more 
learning  than  Calvin  ;  never  one  thundered  with  more 
force  than  Farel  ;  never  one  spake  with  more  honied 
sweetness  than  Viret."  Luther  and  Zwingli  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  Reformation  in  the  eloquence  as  well 
as  spiritual  fire  and  faith  of  their  preaching. 

The  European  Protestant  Church  has  always  cultivated 
the  oratorical  art,  and  in  France  especially  it  has  rivalled 
the  senate  and  the  bar  as  well  as  the  academic  chair,  in 
the  purity,  grace,  and  finished  elegance  of  its  oratory. 
Coquerel  says  that  "  Religion  imposes  this  upon  itself  ; 
even  the  highest  truth  is  not  self-evident  to  the  becloud- 
ed and  corrupt  mind,  but  needs  to  be  explained,  proved, 
and  established.  It  must  be  recommended  to  men  with 
all  the  energies  of  the  soul,  all  the  faculties  of  the  intel- 
lect, all  the  resources  of  oratory.  One  can  never  plead 
for  religion  with  too  much  eloquence,  and  no  preacher 
is  excused,  if  he  has  received  from   God  any  good  gift, 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  48 1 

any  quality  that  belongs  to  the  orator,  such  as  mem- 
ory, voice,  facile  elocution,  presence  of  mind,  easy  and 
natural  gesticulation,  an  expressive  countenance,  and  a 
piercing  glance,  above  all,  power  of  thought  and  forceful 
expression — he  is  culpable  in  not  training  these  powers 
to  the  highest   perfection  in  the  service  of  his  Master."  ' 

Coquerel  regrets  that  preaching  has  been  excluded 
from  the  domain  of  literature.  He  points  to  Massillon, 
who  worked  over  his  sermons  ten  years  before  publishing 
them  ;  and  he  recommends  the  establishment  of  institu- 
tions like  that  at  Augsburg,  called  a  "  Prediger- Seminar,'' 
where  the  sole  aim  is  to  fit  young  men  to  be  preachers. 

The  modes  of  delivery  have  greatly  influenced  the 
oratorical  power  of  the  pulpit  ;  they  have  increased  or 
diminished  it  in  a  marked  degree,  both  in  respect  of 
periods  and  individuals.  Let  us  then  look  at  this  point, 
and  we  now  proceed  to  notice  the  classification  of  ser- 
mons, especially  in  regard  to  their  methods  of  delivery. 
This  classification  would  divide  sermons  into  three  kinds 
(though  these  methods  may  sometimes  be  combined  in 
one),  viz.  : 

Written  sermons,  or  those  delivered  from  written 
notes  ;  Memoriter  sermons,  or  those  recited  from 
memory  ;  and  Extemporaneous  sermons. 

I.   Written  sermons. 

This  method   is  not    without   its   great  names  in  the 

pulpit. 

Who  would   find  fault  with  the  preaching 

sermons, 
of  such  a   man  as   Horace   Bushnell  in  his 

prime,  when  the  manuscript  before  him  seemed  to  vanish, 

and  he  soared  above  it,  and  above  all  art,  by  the  force  of 

his  strong  thinking,  and  the  inspiration  of  a  divine  and 

expanding  theme  ? 

'  "  Observations  Pratiques  sur  la  Predication,"  p.  264. 


482  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

Dr.  Chalmers,  that  pulpit-monarch,  was  also  a  preacher 
of  written  sermons.  Van  der  Palm,  the  most  eloquent 
preacher  of  Holland  in  modern  times,  pursued  this  plan. 
This  method,  we  conclude,  must  still  continue  to  be 
practised  by  those  who,  if  they  should  die  for  it,  can 
neither  speak  from  memory  nor  off-hand.  The  preaching 
of  written  sermons  will  not  be  abandoned  in  haste.  But 
still,  it  should  be  remembered,  that  this  was  not  the 
method  of  the  first  preachers. 

They  were  free  men  in  speech,  if  but  children  often  in 

knowledge.      "All  the   examples  of  Christian  antiquity 

and  of  the  beginnings  of  the  Reformation  are 

°      ^       against  the  practice  of  the  reading  of  writ- 
ancient  TVT     •    1  T-.       M  ^1 

method        ^^"    sermons.     Neither  Basil  nor    Chrysos- 

tom,    neither    Augustine,    nor    Luther,    nor 

Calvin,  nor  their  contemporaries,   read  their  discourses, 

and  later  down  this  method    never  prevailed   in  French 

churches,  and  is  now  renounced  almost  entirely."  * 

In  Germany  the  use  of  written  sermons  has  never  pre- 
vailed. In  Holland,  about  fifty  years  since,  it  was  the 
custom  ;  but  it  is  now  given  up,  and  this  is  true  to  a  great 
extent  in  Scotland.  Its  introduction  into  England,  where, 
together  with  New  England  and  America  it  has  most  pre- 
vailed, has  been  sometimes  ascribed  to  Archbishop  Til- 
lotson  ;  but  Bishop  Burnet  gives  a  more  reliable  account 
of  the  manner  in  which  it  came  into  vogue  in  England. 
He  says,  in  substance,  speaking  of  the  Middle  Ages,  that 
preaching  had  been  restricted  to  Lent,  at  other  seasons 
only  to  festival  days,  panegyrics  of  martyrs,  etc.  The 
friars,  seeing  danger  ahead,  felt  that  they  must  use  the 
instrumentality  of  preaching  to  ward  off  the  influences 
of  advancing  reformed  ideas.     Thus  "  by  passionate  and 


Coquerel's  "  Observations  Pratiques,"  p.  175. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  4^3 

affecting  discourse"  they  kindled  the  devotion  of  the 
people  toward  shrines  and  pilgrimages,  and  in  this  way 
filled  their  coffers. 

The  reformers,  on  the  other  hand,  saw  the  value  of 
this  instrumentality,  but  they  at  first  used  it  indiscreetly. 
They  indulged  in  highly  controversial  and  acrimonious 
preaching,  which,  responded  to  in  the  same  vein,  pro- 
duced complaints  to  the  king,  and  after  that  preaching 
was  confined  to  the  reading  of  written  discourses.' 

But  this  practice  was  not  adopted  by  the  later  re- 
formers of  the  English  Church,  and  was  really  revived 
by  the  Puritans  ;  so  much  so  that  it  was  considered  a 
Puritan  innovation,  and  hence  the  proclamation  of 
Charles  II.,  October  8th,  1674,  to  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, forbidding,  on  pain  of  his  Majesty's  displeasure, 
the  practice  of  reading  sermons,  as  one  "  which  took  its 
beginnings  from  the  disorders  of  the  times,"  and  which 
was  characterized  as  "  a  supine  and  slothful"  method. 
But  the  practice  had  gained  too  strong  a  foothold,  and 
has  maintained  its  ground  ever  since  in  England,  where, 
at  the  present  time,  not  one  preacher  in  ten  extemporizes, 
perhaps  not  one  in  twelve  ;  very  few  memorize  ;  but  the 
preaching  is  from  pretty  full  notes  or  entirely  written  ser- 
mons. Thus  this  mode  did  not  come  in  till  after  the 
Reformation,  and  has  led,  as  we  have  said,  to  the  decline 
of  pulpit  eloquence. 

Sydney  Smith's  witty  gibes  were  directed  especially 
against  this  method  of  preaching  in  England.  "  Pulpit 
discourses,"  he  says,  "  have  insensibly  dwindled  from 
speaking  to  reading  ;  a  practice  of  itself  sufficient  to 
stifle  every  germ  of  eloquence.  It  is  only  by  the  fresh 
feelings   of  the  heart,    that  mankind   can   be    profitably 


'  Burnet's  "  Hist,  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Ch.  of  England." 


4^4  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

affected.  What  can  be  more  ludicrous  than  an  orator 
delivering  stale  indignation  and  fervor  of  a  week  old  ; 
turning  over  whole  pages  of  violent  passion  written  out 
in  fair  text  ;  reading  the  tropes  and  apostrophes  into 
which  he  is  hurried  by  the  ardor  of  his  mind  ;  and  so 
afTected  at  a  preconcerted  line  and  page,  that  he  is  un- 
able to  proceed  any  further?  The  great  object  of  modern 
sermons  is  to  hazard  nothing  ;  their  characteristic  is 
decent  debility  ;  which  alike  guards  their  authors  from 
hideous  errors,  and  precludes  them  from  striking  beau- 
ties. 

It  cannot  at  the  same  time  be  denied  that  this  method 
has  some  advantages. 

(i.)    The  written    sermon    admits   of   and    calls    for  a 

thorough  treatment  of  the  subject.     It  does  not  allow  the 

loose,   inconsequential   method    of   thought 

van  age    q{'^q^    found  in    the    false  extemporaneous 

of  written  .  ,      .  ,  . 

„^ style,  when,  as  an  old  preacher  said  oi  him- 

sermon.  .^     >  >  r 

y  self,  "if  he  was  persecuted  in   one  text  he 

might  flee  into  another;"  but  it  demands,  especially  in 
pulpits  of  a  highly  educated  community,  careful  treat- 
ment of  the  theme  and  precise  and  well-considered  state- 
ments, 

(2.)  It  secures  a  more  finished  style.  There  is  indeed 
great  temptation  to  run  into  the  literary  and  essay,  in- 
stead of  the  direct  oratorical,  style  in  the  written  dis- 
course ;  but  he  who  writes  out  his  thoughts  fully  is 
forced  to  pay  some  attention  to  his  style  ;  and  he  who 
never  writes  out  his  sermons,  if  he  do  not  specially  guard 
against  this  tendency,  will  be  in  danger  of  losing  his 
power  of  accurate  writing.  Writing  makes  a  clear  and 
rich  style. 

"  The  remedy  of  sterile  reverie  is  the  pen.  State  down 
every  attainment  in  your  thinking  by  a  verbal  proposi- 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  485 

tion.  The  thing  of  emphasis  is  the  propositional  form. 
We  never  have  the  full  use  of  language  as  an  instru- 
ment of  thought,  unless  we  cause  our  thoughts  to  fall  in 
an  assertory  shape,"  The  familiar  advice  of  Cicero, 
in  the  First  Book  of  the  "  De  Oratore,"  is,  "  Caput 
autem  est  .  .  .  qiiam  pliirhmnn  scribcrc.  Stilus  optinius 
et  pmstantissimus  dicendi  effector  ac  inagister. 
Ipsa  collatio  conforniatioqiie  verborum  perficittir  in  scriben- 
do,  non  poctico,  scd  qiiodam  oratorio  numero  et  modo." 
Professor  Shepard,  in  his  discourse  on  the  "  Congrega- 
tional Pulpit,"  preached  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
American  Congregational  Union,  in  1857,  makes  these 
strong  remarks  :  "  We  insist,  then,  that  we  are  not  to 
cease  following  the  fathers  in  a  fervid  use  of  the  pen, 
more  or  less,  in  connection  with  preparing  for  the  pulpit. 
Some  of  them,  doubtless,  placed  too  much  reliance  on  it. 
Some  come  under  a  servile  bondage  to  it.  But  it  does 
not  follow  from  this  that  our  wisdom  consists  in  throwing 
it  wholly  away.  We  have  said  that  some  of  these  writers 
for  the  pulpit  proved  themselves  as  among  the  most 
effective  that  ever  stood  there.  They  made  men  see  the 
truth,  believe,  it,  confess  it,  and  be  Christians.  They 
made  them  thinkers,  reasoners,  orators.  The  sage  of 
Franklin  was  the  teacher  of  logic  to  lawyers.  The  great- 
est mathematician  of  the  age  was  the  product  of  that 
pulpit  ;  at  any  rate,  he  sprang  out  from  before  it.  In 
the  light  of  our  history  we  pronounce  the  clamor  raised 
in  some  quarters  against  all  writing  for  the  pulpit  a  mis- 
erably shallow  and  most  senseless  clamor.  The  pulpit 
cannot  maintain  its  moulding  efficacy,  its  ruling  position, 
unless  the  men  thereof  are  men  of  the  sturdy  pen,  as  well 
as  of  the  nimble  tongue.  People,  take  them  as  they  rise, 
are  greatly  given  to  be  lazy  ;  hard  thinking  is  hard  work, 
and  lazy  men  won't   do  it  if  they  can   help  it.     Let  the 


486  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

mere  off-hand  be  the  mode  and  the  law,  and  we  shall 
have  mere  flippant,  off-hand,  extemporaneous  dribble. 
It  will  answer  for  exhortation,  but  not  for  doctrine,  for 
correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness.  There  are 
discourses  which  ought  to  be  made,  but  cannot  be  made 
in  this  way  ;  crises,  wants,  demands,  which  cannot  be 
wholly  met  in  this  (extemporaneous)  way." 

Certainly  funeral  and  occasional  discourses,  and  medita- 
tive sermons,  cannot  possibly  be  constructed  in  this  off- 
hand way. 

(3.)  It  assists  the  preacher  in  many  practical  ways.  The 
written  method  gives  him  a  feeling  of  confidence.  He  is 
sure  of  having  something  to  say.  He  is  relieved  from 
anxiety  in  this  respect  ;  and  he  can  give  all  his  powers  to 
an  effective  delivery.  Then,  too,  he  accumulates  a  preach- 
ing-capital of  sermons  for  future  use.  These  are  like 
well-filled  barrels  in  the  cellar  that  the  house-master 
thinks  of  with  complacency  in  view  of  hard  times  to  come. 

An  American  clergyman  who  died  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury ago  left  three  thousand  neatly  and  perfectly  com- 
posed sermons  ;  which,  it  must  be  said,  however,  though  a 
celebrated  preacher  in  his  day,  have  not  been  disturbed 
since  that  time. 

As  to  the  actual  working  of  this  method  of  preaching, 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  reading  from  notes  is  apt,  with- 
out great  and  constant  care,  to  lead  into  radi- 
Disadvantages  cal  faults. 

°      ^  (i.)  It  tends    to  an  indolent  and  monot- 

written 
sermon.       o^ous  style  of  preachmg. 

We   have    quoted     from    Sydney    Smith, 

and  we  would  quote  a  sentence  or  two  more,  premising 

that  what  he  says  does  not  pointedly  apply  to  American 

preaching  : 

"  Preaching  has  become  a  by-word  for  long  and  dull 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  487 

address  of  any  kind  ;  and  whoever  wishes  to  imply  in 
any  piece  of  writing,  the  absence  of  anything  agreeable 
and  inviting  calls  it  *a  sermon.'  To  this  cause  of  the 
unpopularity  of  sermons  may  be  added  the  extremely 
ungraceful  manner  in  which  they  are  delivered.  The 
English  people,  generally  remarkable  for  doing  very  good 
things  in  a  very  bad  manner,  seem  to  have  reserved  the 
maturity  and  plenitude  of  their  awkwardness  for  the  pul- 
pit. A  clergyman  clings  to  his  velvet  cushion  with  either 
hand,  keeps  his  eye  riveted  upon  his  book  (notes),  speaks 
of  the  ecstasies  of  joy  and  fear  with  a  voice  and  a  face  ^ 
which  indicate  neither,  and  pinions  his  body  and  soul  into 
the  same  attitude  of  limit  and  thought,  for  fear  of  being 
called  theatrical  and  affected."  .  .  .  "Why  are  we 
natural  everywhere  but  in  the  pulpit  ?  No  man  expresses 
Avarm  and  animated  feelings  anywhere  else,  with  his 
mouth  alone,  but  with  his  whole  body  ;  he  articulates 
with  evei-y  limb,  and  talks  from  head  to  foot  with  a  thou- 
sand  voices.  Why  this  holoplexia  on  sacred  occasions  > 
alone  ?  Why  call  in  the  aid  of  paralysis  to  piety  ?  Is  it 
a  rule  of  oratory  to  balance  the  style  against  the  subject, 
and  to  handle  the  most  sublime  truths  in  the  dullest  lan- 
guage and  the  driest  manner .-'  Is  sin  to  be  taken  from 
man  as  Eve  was  from  Adam,  by  casting  them  into  a  deep 
sleep  ?" 

(2.)  Unless  guarded  against,  the  use  of  written  sermons 
also  weakens  the  native  power  of  thought,  as  well  as  of 
deliver}^  One  becomes  so  habituated  to  the  use  of  the 
pen  that  he  cannot  think  without  writing,  which  is  a 
real  loss  of  power. 

(3.)  The  loss  of  time  in  the  mechanical  process  of  writ- 
ing and  copying,  to  the  detriment  of  study. 

The  chief  things  to  be  guarded  against  in  this  method 
are  : 


\ 


488  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

{a.)  Against  mere  reading. 

The  main  difficulty  in  employing  this  method  is  to  avoid 
the  idea  of  writing  and  delivering  the  written  discourse  as 

^      .  if  it  were  a  literary  production  to  be  read  in- 

Cautions. 

stead  of  an  address  to  be  spoken.  Many  con- 
tend that  writing  must  be  read  and  not  spoken  ;  that  it  is 
a  virtual  deception  to  attempt  to  speak  it.  Thus  Co- 
querel  says,  "If  one  reads  in  the  pulpit,  it  is  better 
read  openly  and  boldly,  taking  no  other  pains  than  to 
have  the  manuscript  easily  legible  and  properly  smoothed 
down  on  the  front  of  the  pulpit  ;  then  to  turn  the  leaves 
without  affecting  a  disguise  which  is  useless  and  unbe- 
coming. We  may  be  certain  that  the  hearers  are  not 
deceived  in  this  respect  ;  they  always  know  when  the 
orator  is  reading." 

Dr.  Chalmers  also  warned  his  pupils  against  the  custom 
of  mingling  reading  with  free  speaking,  but  recommends 
that  preaching  should  be  either  one  or  the  other.  Never- 
theless, if  there  be  an  earnest  man  in  the  pulpit,  who  is 
resolved  that"  his  audience  shall  be  affected  by  the  truth, 
and  whose  own  mind  is  possessed  by  the  truth,  we  believe 
there  is  a  possibility,  even  with  a  written  discourse,  of 
the  preacher's  rising  above  mere  reading  into  something 
like  genuine  address,  suffering  the  manuscript  to  be  before 
him  rather  as  a  guide  than  a  restraint.  This  depends  upon 
the  preacher's  theory  of  the  sermon,  whether  he  regards  it 
as  a  means  to  an  end  or  a  means  in  itself  ;  whether  it  is  a 
living  word  or  a  written  composition  ;  whether  his  preach- 
ing is  to  end  in  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  or  in  the  hearts, 
souls,  and  lives  of  men.  But  we  are  assuredly  less  robust 
than  our  ancestors  ;  and  sometimes  (by  no  means  always, 
for  many  of  the  best  and  stoutest-hearted  men  in  the 
world  are  in  the  pulpit)  the  clergyman  who  goes  forth 
complacently  on  Sunday  morning,  armed  and  equipped 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  489 

with  his  nicely  written  discourse,  is  about  as  near  to 
Martin  Luther  groaning  with  his  message  to  the  people, 
or  John  Knox  burning  with  his  prophetic  fire,  or  Hugh 
Latimer  who  charged  Henry  VHL  to  his  face  with  adul- 
tery, as  is  a  child  playing  to  be  a  soldier  with  a  wooden 
weapon  compared  to  a  long-sworded  moss-trooper,  hero 
of  a  hundred  fights.  One  cannot  strike  hard  who  is 
encumbered  by  this  paper  armor.  Some  who  are  older 
and  cannot  readily  learn  new  ways  may  find  it  difficult  and 
even  impossible  to  free  themselves  from  the  bondage  to 
written  sermons,  but  young  men  should  take  heed  in  time. 

(^.)  Against  a  poorly  prepared  manuscript. 

Be  careful  to  have  the  manuscript  in  a  good  condition, 
and  to  be  perfectly  familiar  with  it.  The  preacher,  by 
skillful  management,  by  gaining  a  thorough  familiarity 
with  his  notes  (having  them  written  out  in  a  clear,  large, 
bold  hand),  and  by  becoming  in  some  measure  independent 
of  the  manuscript,  and  rising  above  it — by  filling  his  mind 
with  the  subject-matter — may  perhaps  be  able,  in  the 
delivery  of  the  written  sermon,  to  do  away  almost  en- 
tirely with  the  impression  that  it  is  not,  in  form  at  least, 
a  spontaneous  discourse.  But  the  usual  awkward  and 
confused  manner  of  reading  written  discourses  is  unen- 
durable. He  who  has  good  sight  and  good  memory 
should  deliver  his  sermon  standing  erect,  and  looking  at 
the  people,  so  that  they  can  look  into  his  eyes,  and  he 
into  theirs,  and  as  if  he  had  no  shred  of  manuscript  be- 
fore him.  To  see  a  preacher  of  the  free  gospel  with  his 
head  continually  bent  over  his  sermon,  and  tied  down  to 
his  manuscript,  as  if  there  were  no  living  audience  before 
him,  is  certainly  a  most  pitiable  spectacle. 

This  familiarity  with  the  manuscript  is  indeed  indis- 
pensable to  success  in  using  written  sermons. 

If  one's  time  is  occupied   in  catching  at  the  sense  of 


49°  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

the  written  page,  what  opportunity  is  left  for  the  de- 
livery ?  The  mechanical  effort  nullifies  the  spiritual 
power.  The  mind  is  on  the  manuscript,  not  on  the  con- 
gregation. It  is  taken  up  with  the  gun,  not  fixed  on  the 
mark.  How  can  the  speaker  powerfully  impress  his  own 
feelings  and  ideas  on  an  audience,  when  he  is  laboriously 
grappling  with  the  difficulties  of  rescuing  his  ideas  from 
the  unfamiliar  page  of  written  characters  before  him  ? 
He  is  a  slave  to  the  letter,  bound  hand  and  foot.  He 
cannot  speak  freely.  To  do  this  he  must  have  obtained 
previous  mastery  of  his  manuscript.  Every  heading, 
division,  word,  should  be  so  familiar  that  a  glance  recalls 
the  whole,  a  word  a  sentence,  a  sentence  a  paragraph, 
a  paragraph  a  division. 

Then  he  breaks  his  chain  and  rises  superior  to  his 
manuscript,  and  speaks  with  something  of  the  freedom 
and  power  of  an  extemporaneous  speaker.  In  no  other 
way  can  he  do  this.  For  though  it  be  true  that  the  man 
behind  the  manuscript  is  the  great  thing  and  that  the 
earnest  preacher  will  always  be  effective,  whatever  mode 
he  adopts,  yet  if  any  method  in  itself  have  positive  draw- 
backs and  essential  disadvantages,  he  is  bound  to  con- 
sider these,  and  either  guard  effectually  against  them,  or 
adopt  an  entirely  different  way  of  preaching. 

(^.)  Against  repeating  old  sermons. 

Do  not  repeat  a  written  sermon  without  re-writing  or, 
at  least,  re-thinking  it.  A  preacher  of  old  sermons  in 
Oxford  is  called  an  "  Oxford  hack,"  and  when  he 
attempts  to  make  an  old  sermon  new  by  giving  it  a 
new  text  and  a  little  refurbishing,  it  is  "  an  Oxford  hack 
with  a  new  saddle  and  bridle."  ' 

In  respect  of  old  sermons  the  matter  of  the  sermon 


'  Cox's  "  Recollections  of  Oxford,"  p.  224. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  49 1 

may  be  as  good  and  fresh  as  ever,  but  all  will  agree  that 
the  feeling  in  which  the  sermon  is  produced  should  be 
also  fresh.  There  ought  to  be  something  new  in  every 
sermon,  because  there  is  some  new  development  of  ex- 
perience, thought,  or  feeling  in  ourselves  in  regard  to  the 
same  old  and  yet  ever  new  truth  that  we  treat. 

In  repeating  written  sermons,  it  is  too  much  the  habit 
of  preachers  to  snatch  up  at  the  last  moment,  for  an  ex- 
change, or  for  a  second  preaching,  a  manuscript  sermon, 
without  studying  it  carefully.  Every  sermon  preached, 
whether  written  or  unwritten,  whether  preached  the  first 
or  the  fortieth  time,  should  be  a  fresh  discourse.  There 
should  be  not  only  an  intellectual,  but  a  spiritual  repro- 
duction of  the  sermon  ;  it  should  be  thought  out 
afresh  ;  it  should  be  re-created  ;  it  should  be  prayed  over 
and  breathed  upon  by  the  same  intense  feeling  as  that  in 
which  it  was  composed.  It  is  seldom,  indeed,  that  an  old 
sermon  does  not  need  correction  and  improvement,  and 
even  re-writing  ;  for  one  may  have  gained  new  thoughts 
and  experiences  on  the  same  subject  ;  and  at  all  events, 
none  will  dispute  that  every  sermon  preached  should 
bear  a  fresh  coinage — if  repeated  it  should  be  re-minted. 

2.  Memoriter  sermons. 

Memoriter  speaking  has  in  its  favor  the  example  of  the 
ancient  orators,  and,  in  all  probability,  of  Demosthenes, 

who  did  not  trust  himself  without  a  careful 

1  11  ,.  T^i  Memoriter 

and  even  verbal  preparation.     The  memory 

sermons, 
was  regarded  as  almost  the  greatest  of  intel- 
lectual gifts  for  the  orator,  as  Ouintilian  says,  "It  is 
not  without  reason  that  the  memory  has  been  called  the 
treasury  of  eloquence."  This  style  has  also  in  its  favor 
the  example  of  a  few  distinguished  English  preachers,  and 
of  the  German  and  French  pulpit  as  a  body. 


492  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

A  French  writer  says  :  "  By  memorization  one  escapes 
from  the  sudden  imprudences,  the  irreparable  mistakes 
and  failures  of  a  juvenile  extemporization.  As  to  the 
objection  that  memorization  gives  to  the  delivery  some- 
thing of  constraint,  of  formality,  of  overstrained  empha- 
sis, an  affected  gesture,  a  redundant  accent,  arid  that 
extemporization,  on  the  contrary,  draws  with  it  a  deliv- 
ery more  natural,  fervent,  and  sympathetic  ;  examples 
militate  against  the  justice  of  these  alternatives  ;  if  the 
memory  is  only  sure  of  itself  the  elocution  does  not  incur 
these  reproaches,  while  the  delivery  of  an  extemporaneous 
discourse  may  be  as  confused  as  the  discourse  itself." 

De  Ravignan  recommends  it  as  the  only  proper  method, 
and  he  repeats  a  saying  of  Massillon,  "  My  best  sermon 
is  the  one  I  know  best."  He  drew  from  this  the  conclu- 
sion that  we  ought  to  know  some  sermons  by  heart,  and 
added  : 

"  I  know  very  well  the  trouble  of  learning  by  heart  ; 
but  the  more  trouble  the  better — trouble  is  just  what  we 
ought  to  have.  This  wretched  fear  of  taking  trouble  it  is 
that  docs  all  the  harm.  Would  you  like  me  to  tell  you 
something,  of  the  truth  of  which  I  am  deeply  convinced  ? 
Sloth  is  what  chiefly  palsies  talent  and  hinders  success. 
I  remember  a  very  sensible  remark  made  to  me  by  a 
speaker  of  experience  ;  he  said  that  we  must  let  a  speech 
rot,  yes,  rot  in  the  memory.  Beware  of  losing  the  power 
of  learning  by  heart  ;  nothing  can  supply  that  want." 

Such  preachers  as  De  Ravignan,  Lacordaire,  and  P^re 
Hyacinthe,  who,  whatever  their  errors,  would  be  called 
great  orators,  and  who  made  the  Gothic  pulpit  of  Notre 
Dame  resplendent  in  these  modern  days,  were  memoriter 
preachers  ;  but  it  must  be  said  that  Notre  Dame  is  a 
metropolitan  show-pulpit,  where  a  display  of  eloquence 
was  expected  ;  yet,  as  a  general  rule,  French  and  Ger- 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  493 

man  preachers,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  among 
them  Adolphe  Monod,  Athanase  Coquerel,  Vinet,  and 
above  all,  Reinhard,  in  the  last  century,  held  that  any- 
other  kind  of  preaching  than  the  memoriter  was  inefficient, 
indolent,  and  unworthy  of  the  occasion  and  the  truth. 

By  this  method,  as  the  example  of  these  eminent 
preachers  proves,  the  sermon  being  written  out  is  apt  to 
be  carefully  composed  ;  the  written  style  thus  intended 
for  delivery  is  better  adapted  to  speaking,  and  whatever 
is  stiff  is  taken  out  of  it  ;  and  if  one  can  overcome  the 
fear  of  breaking  down  much  is  gained  in  accuracy  of  lan- 
guage and  deliberation  of  thought.  The  memory,  it  is 
admitted,  is  capable  of  immense  cultivation. 

Dr.  Immanuel  Christlieb,  of  Bonn,  has  stated  that  in 
his  own  case,  while  it  took  him  at  first  four  days  to  commit 
a  sermon  to  memory,  he  soon  reduced  it  to  two  days  ; 
and  that  now  it  is  only  necessary  for  him  to  read  it  over 
twice,  once  Saturday  night,  and  once  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing.    He  did  not  state  how  soon  he  forgot  it  ! 

The  testimony  also  of  the  late  Dr.  Thomas  Guthrie, 
who  is  commonly  supposed  to  have  been  an  extempo- 
raneous speaker,  is  interesting.  Speaking  of  the  man- 
ner of  preparing  for  the  pulpit  he  says  : 

"  Thus  the  only  time  left  me  for  preparation  for  the 
pulpit,  composing  my  sermons,  and  so  thoroughly  com- 
mitting them  that  they  rose  without  an  effort  to  my 
memory  (and  therefore  appeared  as  if  they  were  born  on 
the  spur  and  stimulus  of  the  moment),  was  to  be  found 
in  the  morning."  ' 

The  example  of  such  a  man,  and  of  nearly  all  the  con- 
tinental preachers  of  Europe,  cannot  be  entirely  disre- 
garded.     Have  we  not  possibly  erred  in  America  in  hold- 


'  "  Autobiography,"  v.  i.  p.  19. 


494  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

ing  this  method  in  especial  disesteem  ?  and  may  not  its 
confessed  disadvantages  of  confinement,  task-work,  and 
want  of  freedom,  entirely  vanish  in  particular  cases,  and 
great  relief  and  power  be  obtained  from  it  when  success- 
fully mastered  ? 

Robert  Hall,  it  is  well  known,  mingled  the  extem- 
poraneous and  memoriter  methods  ;  and  on  most  occa- 
sions made  use  of  his  memory  for  the  delivery  of  the 
most  important  and  finished  parts  of  his  sermon.  The 
following  is  related  of  him  : 

"  Once,  in  a  conversation  with  a  few  friends  who  had 
led  him  to  talk  of  his  preaching,  and  to  answer,  among 
other  questions,  one  respecting  the  supposed  and  report- 
ed extemporaneous  production  of  the  most  striking  parts 
of  his  sermons,  in  the  earlier  period  of  his  ministry,  he 
surprised  us  by  saying  that  most  of  them,  so  far  from 
being  extemporaneous,  had  been  so  deliberately  prepared 
that  his  words  were  selected,  and  the  construction  and 
order  of  the  sentences  adjusted."  ' 

In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  notice  what  Dr.  Samuel 
Hopkins  says  of  Jonathan  Edwards's  preaching.  ^ 

He  was  wont  to  read  so  considerable  a  part  of  what  he 
delivered,  yet  he  was  far  from  thinking  this  the  best  way  of 
preaching  in  general,  and  looked  upon  using  his  notes  so 
much  as  he  did  a  deficiency  and  infirmity  ;  and  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  his  life  he  was  inclined  to  think  it  would  have 
been  better  if  he  had  never  been  accustomed  to  use  his 
notes  at  all.  It  appeared  to  him  that  preaching  wholly 
without  notes,  agreeably  to  the  custom  in  most  Protestant 
countries,  and  in  what  seems  evidently  to  have  been  the 
manner  of  the  apostles  and  primitive  preachers  of  the 


'  Foster's  "  Essay  on  Robert  Hall." 

-  Works  of  Edwards,  London  ed.,  p.  ccxxxi. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  495 

gospel,  was  by  far  the  most  natural  way,  and  had  the 
greatest  tendency,  on  the  whole,  to  answer  the  end  of 
preaching  ;  and  supposed  that  no  one  who  had  talents 
equal  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  was  incapable  of  speaking 
i>ic)noriier,  if  he  took  suitable  pains  for  this  attainment 
in  his  youth.  He  would  have  the  young  preacher  write 
all  his  sermons,  or,  at  least,  most  of  them,  out,  at  large  ; 
and  instead  of  reading  them  to  his  hearers,  take  pains  to 
commit  them  to  memory  ;  which,  though  it  would  require 
a  great  deal  of  labor  at  first,  yet  would  soon  become 
easier  by  use,  and  help  him  to  speak  more  correctly  and 
freely,  and  be  of  great  service  to  him  all  his  days." 

Reinhard,  before  mentioned,  early  adopted  the  memo- 
riter  style.  His  reasons  for  it,  strongly  urged,  may  be 
found  in  his  "  Letters  on  Preaching." 

Dr.  Hagenbach,  in  his  "  Liturgik  und  Homiletik," 
recommends  the  memoriter  style  first  of  all,  the  written 
next,  and  the  extempore  not  at  all, 

Memoriter  preaching,  sometimes  called  "  reciting," 
and  in  Scotland  "  mandating,"  a  process  which  it  is  said 
may  be  heard  going  on  with  great  energy  in  a  Scotch 
parsonage  every  Saturday  night,  was  never  so  much  in 
favor  in  America  as  in  Europe. 

It  has  certainly,  as  has  been  said,  some  advantages. 

(i.)  The  sermon  is  first  written  out  and  is 

thus  apt  to  be  carefully  composed.  Advantages 

(2.)  It  serves  to  correct  the  written  style,  ° 

r  1-1       1-  .,,..,         memoriter 

tor  one    readily  discovers  in  delivering  the     preaching 

sermon  away  from  the  manuscript,  whatever 
is  stiff  and  essayish   in   it,  whatever  is  not  suited  to  be 
spoken,  whatever  cannot  be  delivered   easily  and  natu- 
rally. 

(3.)  In  the  delivery,  also,  if  one  can  conquer  the  ap- 
prehension   of   breaking   down,  he  has  gained  accuracy 


49^  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

of  language  and  deliberation  of  thought,  and  he  can 
stand  erect  and  look  the  audience  in  the  face  and  be 
free  and  unconstrained  in  action.  This  is  an  immense 
gain,  and  this  method,  which  has  heretofore  seemed  alto- 
gether the  least  fitted  for  the  pulpit,  has  some  serious 
claims  to  our  regard  ;  and  if  it  could  be  united  with 
the  extemporaneous  method  it  would  seem  to  be  the 
ideal  of  preaching.  No  one  at  least  should  say  that  he 
cannot  adopt  this  style  who  has  never  tried,  who  has 
never  laid  the  tax  upon  his  memory. 

It  is,  at  all  events,  a  great  acquisition  to  a  minister  to 
have  his  memory  stored  with  passages  of  Scripture,  and 
even  if  a  preacher  adopts  a  written  rather  than  a  memo- 
riter  style,  he  should  be  so  thoroughly  familiar  with  his 
manuscript  that  it  amounts  to  a  memoriter  style. 

But  this  method  of  preaching  has  immense  disadvan- 
tages,  which,    unless  well  overcome,    make 

Disadvan-  j^  \)^q  least  commendable  style  of  all,  and 
ages  o        ^^^  ^^  ^^  avoided. 

memoriter  /     s    rr-,       ,  r     •         •  •     • 

oreachine-  ^^'^  time m  committmg  a  ser- 

mon to  memory.  Few  men  can  commit  a 
sermon  in  less  than  two  days,  so  as  to  be  perfectly  free  ; 
for  unless  one  speaks  without  a  conscious  effort  at  re- 
membering he  is  of  all  speakers  the  most  constrained. 

(2.)  In  the  monotonous  process  of  the  memory  the 
power  and  animation  of  the  mind  must  receive  a  check. 
It  is  tying  down  the  memory  to  a  set  task,  and  it  be- 
comes doubly  a  rote-work,  first  of  writing,  then  of  re- 
membering. 

(3.)  It  has  the  disadvantages  of  the  written  method, 
without  securing  the  advantages  of  the  extemporaneous 
method.  It  is  the  written  method,  though  apparently 
unwritten  ;  one  is  confined,  though  seemingly  free  ;  he 
is  attempting  two  processes  at  once — that  of  remember- 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  497 

ing  and  delivering  ;  and  this  real  want  of  freedom  will 
surely  make  itself  manifest,  if  in  no  other  way,  by  the 
abstracted  expression  of  the  eyes,  gazing  at  vacancy,  by 
which  it  will  be  soon  discovered  that  the  preacher  is 
"  reading  from  his  memory."  There  is  more  honesty 
and  power  in  openly  delivering  the  sermon  from  the 
manuscript  ;  for  the  secret  being  out  that  one  is  speaking 
from  memory,  the  virtue  has  departed  from  the  discourse. 

Then,  as  to  the  sermon  itself,  by  repeating  it  so  many 
times  the  preacher  is  apt  to  get  tired  of  it  ;  the  fire  will 
be  taken  out  of  it  ;  and,  after  all,  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  conceal  the  idea  that  it  has  been  written,  and  thus  the 
air  of  delivering  a  thoughtful  sermon  as  if  it  were  com- 
posed on  the  spot  will  have  a  shade  of  insincerity. 

But,  as  I  have  said,  all  these  objections  may  vanish 
in  particular  cases  ;  and  the  example  of  so  many  great 
preachers  deserves  our  earnest  consideration. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  consider  the  last  method  of  pul- 
pit delivery,  for  we  cannot  stop  until  the  ideal  of  preach- 
ing is  reached,  and  the  preacher  stands  forth  a  free  man, 
the  master  of  all  his  resources  of  mind  and  body,  to  speak 
his  message  directly  to  the  soul,  as  if  it  were  indeed  a 
"  word  of  life"  (and  all  preaching  should  be  living,  or 
life-creating),  just  as  it  is  given  him  to  speak,  with  no 
painful  thought  as  to  the  words  ;  but  these  are  truly 
"winged  words,"  flying  forth  as  on  the  breath  of  the  / 
soul. 

3.   Extempore  preaching. 

It  is  sometimes  imagined  that  this  method  is   a  new 

thing,  a  discovery  of  these  latter  days,  and 

a  great   and  wonderful  reformation    of    the       "^  empore 

preaching, 
pulpit. 

If  it  be  a  reform  of  the  pulpit  (and  we  hold  it  to  be  so) 


49^  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

it  will  only  be  travelling  back  to  the  earliest  times,  to 
the  apostolic  age,  and  to  the  way  that  nature,  the  free 
spirit  of  man,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  dictate. 

Among  the    classic  orators  a  modified  species  of  im- 
provisation  was    doubtless    in    vogue.     The   practice  of 
writing  out  the  discourse  beforehand  com- 
The  ancient  jy^gj^^ed,  it  is  said,  among  the  Greeks  in  the 
method.  .  r   t-.     •   ,  i  •  i 

time  of  rencles,  and  was  m   some  degree  a 

sign  of  the  decadence  of  Greek  eloquence,  though  De- 
mosthenes himself,  in  a  former  age,  was,  as  has  been 
said,  not  wholly  an  extempore  speaker. 

From  the  Gorgias  of  Plato  it  is  easy  to  deduce  the 
proof  that  the  extemporaneous  method  was  frequently 
resorted  to.     Cicero  says  : 

' '  Is  orator  erit,  hoc  tain  gravi  nomine  digniis  qui  quac- 
cumqiie  res  inciderit,  quce  sit  dictione  explicanda,  prudenter, 
et  composite,  et  ornate,  ct  memoritcr  dicat,  cum  qiiadam 
etiam  actionis  dignitatc."  ' 

This  "  memorization"  here  spoken  of  v/as  evidently  the 
recalling  of  ideas  instead  of  words,  and  described  doubt- 
less, in  general  terms,  the  orator's  facility  of  clothing  his 
remembered  ideas  in  fit  language,  in  fact  the  power  of 
accurate  and  forceful  extemporization.  This,  as  we  have 
said,  was  the  method  of  the  earliest  preachers,  and  can 
there  be  any  doubt  that  it  was  the  apostolic  method  ? 
Did  the  apostle  Paul  need  to  have  his  manuscript  ser- 
mon before  him  when  he  stretched  forth  his  hand  and 
said  "  Men  and  brethren"  ? 

Dr.  Neander,  speaking  of  the  first  centuries,  says  : 

"  The  sermons  were  sometimes,  though  rarely,  read 
from  notes  ;  sometimes  freely  delivered  ;  and  sometimes 
they  were  altogether  extemporary." 


'  "  De  Oratore,"  I.  15. 


CLASSIFICATIOX  OF  SERMONS.  499 

This  statement  of  Neander's,  that  in  the  early  ages  ser- 
mons were  sometimes  read,  has  been  controverted,  and 
the  evidence  against  this  is  pretty  strong  ;  but  doubtless 
there  was  some  preparation  in  thought  and  composition  ; 
and  in  set  orations,  or  occasional  sermons,  like  pane- 
gyrics, there  was  actual  writing  ;  yet,  notwithstanding 
all  this,  that  the  earlier  patristic  preachers  were  in  the 
common  habit  of  using  written  notes,  there  is  no  proof 
that  we  have  seen. 

A  writer  in  Blackwood  (February,  1869),  generalizing 
upon  this  point  says  :  "  The  ancient  mode  of  preaching 
was,  of  course,  extempore,  with  what  amount  of  previous 
preparation  would  depend  on  the  powers  or  habits  of  the 
preacher.  The  sermons  of  Origen  are  the  first  which  are 
recorded  as  having  been  taken  down  by  short-hand  writ- 
ers ;  and  it  was  probably  not  until  a  date  comparatively 
recent  that  any  preacher  thought  of  actually  writing  out 
his  sermon  at  any  length  beforehand,  with  the  view  of 
delivering  it  from  memory,  as  has  been  the  habit  of  some 
of  the  most  successful  preachers. 

"  The  practice  of  reading  from  a  manuscript  seems  only 
to  have  come  in  after  the  Reformation,  and  even  then  to 
have  been  a  long  time  exceptional  and  unpopular." 

It  is  said  that  Archbishop  Tillotson,  after  a  most  con- 
clusive failure,  declared  he  never  would  attempt  extem- 
poraneous speaking  again  ;  and  his  influence  was  so  great 
that  he  has  been  sometimes  called,  as  was  mentioned, 
the  originator  of  reading  written  sermons. 

It  is  also  related  that  Dr.  South  broke  down  on  one 
occasion  at  the  very  opening  of  an  essay  at  extem- 
poraneous preaching,  and  with  the  exclamation,  "  Lord 
be  merciful  to  our  infirmities,"  descended  rapidly  from 
the  pulpit. 

Dr.  Chalmers  might  also  be  mentioned  as  another  in- 


500  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

stance  of  failure  ;  but  many  instances  might  be  adduced, 
on  the  other  hand,  of  preachers  wlio,  not  succeeding 
at  first,  have  in  the  end  become  powerful  off-hand 
speakers. 

Shakespeare  says  he  has  seen  "  great  clerks" 

"  Shiver  and  look  pale  ; 
Make  periods  in  the  midst  of  sentences  ; 
Throttle  their  practis'd  accents  in  their  fear  ; 
And  in  conclusion  doubly  have  broke  off." 

But  the  preachers  who  have  produced  the  most  impres- 
sion in  ancient  and  modern  times,  especially  the  great 
revival  preachers,  have,  as  a  general  rule,  been  extempore 
speakers  ;  for  this  method  comes  nearest  to  the  true  idea 
of  preaching,  which  is  bringing  to  bear  a  personal  influence 
upon  men,  and  is  a  kind  of  prophesying  in  which  a  sanc- 
tified personality,  cleansed  and  prepared  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  becomes  the  direct  medium  of  divine  imparta- 
tions  of  truth. 

The  Holy  Spirit  more  readily  speaks  through  the  per- 
sonality of  him  who  yields  himself  at  the  moment,  body 
and  soul,  to  be  played  upon,  filled  and  voiced,  by  this 
higher  personality  and  power  of  God. 

This  is  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Finney,  who,  whatever  his 
faults  may  have  been,  was  confessedly  a  powerful  and 
successful  revival  preacher.  He  claimed  even  a  pro- 
phetic gift,  and,  however  he  may  have  erred  on  the  side 
of  fanaticism  in  this,  we  believe  he  was  a  sincere  and 
holy  man. 

The  idea  of  inspirational  rhetoric  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  favorite  one  of  Origen's,  and  of  other  great  preachers 
of  past  ages,  who  claimed  for  it  a  direct  and  essentially 
prophetic  character.  Whether  or  not  this  apostolic  in- 
spiration   be   still   vouchsafed   to   the   true  preacher   of 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  SOI 

Christ,  and  how  far  it  may  accompany  his  earnest  studies 
and  efforts  to  interpret  the  word  of  God  to  men,  are 
open  questions  ;  but  there  can  be  no  question  that  he  who 
has  acquired  the  ability  of  speaking  freely  as  God  moves 
him,  of  uttering  the  thoughts  and  emotions  that  sway  his 
mind  with  ease  and  power,  is  more  apt  to  be  God's 
effective  mouthpiece. 

Then  there  is  the  regeneration  of  speech.  Then 
speech  is  electric.  It  is  like  lightning  from  the  skies. 
Then  there  can  be  eloquence  and  something  higher — 
convicting  and  converting  power. 

Not  that  men  have  not  been  converted  by  written  ser- 
mons, and  that  great  revivals  of  religion  have  not  been 
forwarded  by  written  sermons  ;  but  this  has  been,  so  to 
speak,  in  spite  of  them,  and  over  them,  as  a  torrent  rolls 
over  obstructing  obstacles  and  sweeps  all  before  it. 

But  extemporaneous  preaching,  with  the  uninspired 
successors  of  the  apostles,  rarely  can  mean  unpremedi- 
tated preaching,  though  often,  in  respect  of  the  immedi- 
ate preparation  of  the  discourse  in  hand,  it  does  amount 
to  that. 

The  great  preachers  of  the  Reformation,  and  since 
their  day  such  men  as  Wesley,  Robert  Hall,  Jonathan 
Edwards,  who  lived  in  the  sphere  of  divine  contempla- 
tions, and  whose  meat  and  drink  it  was  to  think  upon  the 
things  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  were  ready  to  preach  at 
any  time,  on  any  occasion,  to  any  length  ;  for  it  was  but 
starting  a  spring  whose  sources  were  exhaustless,  open- 
ing as  they  do  into  the  infinite  thoughts  of  God. 

Calvin  in  ten  years  preached  four  thousand  and  thirty- 
four  sermons,  and  John  Wesley  a  far  greater  proportion 
than  this  for  fifty  years.  But  it  is  evident  that  a  great 
deal  has  to  be  done  in  the  case  of  ordinary  men  before 
extemporaneous  address  is  possible. 


502  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

Coquerel  lays  down  three  inexorable  pre-requisites  of 

successful  extemporaneous  preaching. 

-  ,,  (i.)  That    the    preacher  should   have  an 

Coquerel  s  ^    '  ^ 

V  requisites      abundant  supply  of  ideas,  especially  of  relig- 

of  an  extern-  ious  and  moral  ideas,  without  which  all  the 

poraneous  advantages  of  facile  delivery  amount  to 
preac  er.  nothing  ;  for  a  lack  of  ideas  leads  to  the  bare 
repetition  of  thoughts — to  words,  words,  words. 

(2.)  There  is  also  needed  a  rich,  intimate,  and  verbal 
knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  and  especially  of  the  New 
Testament  (we  venture  to  say  that  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  Old  Testament  also  gives  a  devotional  flavor  to  the 
preacher's  imagination  that  hardly  anything  else  can  ;  it 
smells  as  of  Carm.el  and  Lebanon  and  the  gardens  of 
spices).  But  a  familiarity  with,  and  a  facility  in  repeat- 
ing, texts,  analogues,  proofs,  allusions,  figures,  promises, 
threatenings,  proverbs,  precepts,  reasonings,  from  the 
Bible,  are  of  inestimable  aid.  If  the  Bible  be  not  a  per- 
fectly well-known  book  to  the  preacher  his  improvisations 
are  apt  to  become  mere  moral  declamations  and  philo- 
sophical platitudes. 

(3.)  A  fluent  and  idiomatic  use  of  his  mother  tongue. 
Otherwise  there  will  be  stiffness  and  mannerism,  hiatuses, 
strained  and  inverted  sentences,  confused  parentheses, 
and  absolute  blunders  in  the  construction  of  sentences, 
which  will  take  away  one  of  the  great  charms  and  powers  of 
extemporaneous  speech — its  easy,  natural  flow.  It  is  not 
so  difficult  to  commence  a  sentence,  but  the  difficulty  is 
to  end  it.  Unless  with  prompt  and  practised  speakers, 
the  decisive  word,  the  key-word  of  the  sentence,  which 
binds  it  together,  is  wanting,  and  the  sentence  is  naught 
but  a  jumbled  ineffective  mass. 

We  might  be  allowed  to  add  to  these  three  admirable 
pre-requisites — 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  503 

(4.)  A  disciplined  power  of  thought,  that  is  able  to  look 
a  subject  through  to  the  end. 

While  extemporization  is,  in  one  sense,  the  easiest,  be- 
cause inspirational,  method  of  speaking,  yet  in  fact  it  is 
the  most  difficult  ;  it  is  the  ideal,  and  therefore  hardest 
to  reach  ;  and  to  extemporize  successfully  before  one  has 
anything  to  say,  and  knows  how  to  say  it,  is  not  to  be 
thought  of.  There  must  be  methodized  thought  before 
there  can  be  forcible  speech. 

Thinking,  the  trained  power  to  think  clearly  and 
steadily,  keeping  the  main  idea  in  view  as  the  Olympic 
racer  keeps  the  goal  in  sight,  this  is  the  golden  secret 
of  extemporaneous  address.  A  philosophically  trained 
mind  is,  intellectually  considered,  the  deepest  source  of 
successful  extemporization  that  does  not  lose  itself  in  a 
sea  of  words.  Ouintilian,  in  that  very  striking  passage 
already  quoted,  says  : 

"  Exteviporalis  oratio  nee  alio  miJii  videtur  mentis  vigore 
e  oust  are. 

In  regard  to  the  actual  amount  of  preparation  needed 
for   the    act    of   extemporaneous   preaching,    Mcllvaine, 
in    his   able  work  on  elocution  (p.   1 19)  re- 
marks :   "  The  extent  or  thoroughness  of  the         nioun 

of  preparation 
preparation  required  for   extempore    speak-       needed 

ing  is  greater  or  less,  according  as  the  mind 
of  the  speaker  acts  with  more  or  less  precision  and 
rapidity.  Too  minute  preparation  resolves  extempore 
into  memoriter  preaching,  and  instead  of  relieving 
the  mind  from  the  burden  of  sub-processes,  only  ex- 
changes one  class  of  them  for  another.  The  principle 
which  will  enable  each  one  to  decide  this  point  for  him- 
self, turns  upon  the  question  how  far  he  can  relieve 
himself  from  the  labors  of  invention  and  style,  without 
loading   his  memorv.    As   a  general  rule,  however,  the 


504  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

speaker,  whenever  it  is  possible,  ought  to  prepare  before- 
hand, either  mentally  or  with  the  aid  of  the  pen,  a  com- 
plete analysis  of  his  discourse,  including  the  distinct 
statement  of  the  proposition,  the  arrangement  by  co- 
ordination of  the  general  heads,  and  by  subordination  of 
the  secondary'  topics,  together  with  a  general  statement 
of  the  thought  contained  in  each  paragraph. 

"Such  an  analysis,  which  rhetoric  teaches  us  to  prepare, 
may  either  be  carried  in  the  memory  without  loading  it, 
or  it  may  be  committed  to  paper  and  referred  to  when 
speaking  without  serious  disadvantage.  With  a  fine 
memory  the  former  method  is  to  be  preferred  ;  with  a 
poor  memory  the  latter." 

The  process  of  learning  to  extemporize  will  naturally 
differ  with  different  characters  of  mind.  Some  men,  we 
believe  most  men,  will  succeed  better  by  writing  a  great 
deal.  They  must  use  written  and  memoriter  crutches 
perhaps  for  a  long  time  until  they  can  fling  them  away. 

This  is  Zincke's  famous  method.      He  says  : 

"  Nor  will  the  practice  of  extempore  speaking  deprive 
a  man  of  the  advantage  of  attaining  to  that 
inc  e  s  accuracy  which  is  a  result  of  written  composi- 
tion.  1  am  addressmg  myself  to  those  who 
have  energy  enough  to  persevere  for  some  years,  or  for 
whatever  time  may  be  required,  in  the  practice  of  care- 
fully compiling  their  sermons  during  the  week,  and  then 
preaching  them  extemporarily  on  Sunday.  The  time 
will  come  when  full  notes,  containing  only  the  more  im- 
portant parts  hi  extenso,  will  be  sufficient,  and  at  last 
nothing  more  in  most  cases  be  needed  than  such  a  sketch 
as  may  be  written  on  one  side  of  half  a  sheet  of  note 
paper,  the  rest  of  the  study  being  carried  on  mentally,  or 
without  the  aid  of  writing.  I  suppose  that  for  several 
years  more  or  less  of  writing  will  be  necessary,  because 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  505 

that  alone  will  demonstrate  to  the  preacher  that  he  has 
mastered  the  subject,  and  properly  arranged  his  mate- 
rials, and  so  will  enable  his  mind  to  rest  on  the  fact  that 
it  has  already  produced  what  it  now  has  only  to  produce 
in  the  pulpit. 

"  And  I  can  imagine  persons  preferring  to  the  last  to 
write  very  full  abstracts  of  what  they  intend  to  say,  and 
doing  this  from  a  religious  regard  for  their  work.  A  ser- 
mon, such  persons  will  feel,  is  too  important  a  work,  too 
much  depends  upon  it,  to  justify  the  preacher  in  leaving 
anything  to  the  chances  of  the  moment.  This  must  be 
done  to  some  extent  in  a  debate,  and  it  may  be  done 
generally  in  secular  oratory,  when  the  main  object  is  to 
please  ;  but  it  is  irreverent  and  unwise  to  trust  in  this 
way  to  the  moment  for  the  matter  or  arrangement  of  a 
sermon.  It  will,  therefore,  I  think,  be  better  that  the 
preacher,  however  practised,  should  never  wholly  lay 
aside  the  pen.''  ' 

Notwithstanding  the  wisdom  of  these  counsels  of 
Zincke,  we  are  convinced  that  some  men — perhaps  they 
are  exceptions — do  better  by  bold  effort,  forcing  them- 
selves at  once  to  hardy  thinking  and  free  expression,  and 
by  daring  winning.  If  they  stand  shivering  on  the  brink 
in  their  half-resolve  and  caution,  betokened  by  their  con- 
tinually keeping  up  the  writing  process,  they  will  never 
plunge  in  and  succeed  as  swimmers.  These  bolder  men, 
if  they  succeed,  will  make  the  best  extempore  preachers, 
because  they  trust  themselves  and  lay  their  power  of 
speaking  in  thinking,  in  the  energy  of  the  mind  rather 
than  in  rhetoric  or  the  outward  expression.  But  all 
would  agree,  who  know  anything  about  the  subject,  or 
have  any  personal  experience  in  regard  to  it,  that   there 


'  "  The  Duty  and  Discipline  of  Extemporary  Preaching,"  p.  33. 


So6  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

must  be  a  severe  preparation,  that  there  must  be  in- 
tensely hard  study,  planning,  even  composition  of  the 
discourse — it  may  be  wholly  mental — before  coming  up 
to  the  act  of  speaking. 

Thought  and  method,  like  a  strong  engine  and  snow- 
plough,  should  clear  the  track  for  the  train  to  go 
smoothly  and  swiftly  over. 

Dr.  Richard  S.  Storrs,  in  his  lectures  on  this  subject, 

gives  essentially  the  same  advice.     He  says  : 

"It   is  indispensable,  therefore,  that   the 

°"^        main  plan  of  the  sermon  be  from  the  start 
on  extempore  .....  .         .  ^   .       ,. 

oreachine-      ^*^  plamly  in  view  that  it  comes  up  of  itself, 

as  it  is  needed,  and  does  not  require 
to  be  pulled  into  sight  at  any  effort.  To  this  end, 
it  must  be  simple,  obvious,  natural,  so  that  it  fixes 
itself  in  the  mind  ;  it  must  be  clearly  articulated  in 
its  parts.  If  possible,  let  it  be  so  arranged  that  one 
point  naturally  leads  to  another,  and,  when  the  treat- 
ment of  it  is  finished  leaves  you  in  front  of  that  which 
comes  next.  Then  take  up  that  and  treat  it  in  its  order, 
until  through  that  treatment  you  reach  the  third,  and  find 
it  inevitable  to  proceed  to  consider  that.  By  such  a  pro- 
gressive arrangement  of  thought  you  are  yourself  carried 
forward  ;  your  faculties  have  continual  liberty  ;  you  are 
not  forced  to  pause  in  the  work  of  addressing  yourself 
directly  to  the  people.  There  must  be  connection  as 
well  as  succession,  in  the  thoughts  which  one  would  ex- 
press without  notes  ;  and  the  more  fully  and  deeply  the 
plan  of  the  discourse  is  imbedded  in  the  mind,  and  made 
self-suggestive,  the  more  elastic  and  buoyant  is  the  tread 
of  the  mind  in  all  the  discussion.  If  needful  to  this  re- 
sult, I  would  write  the  plan  of  the  sermon  over  twenty 
times  before  preaching  it  ;  not  copying,  merely,  from 
one  piece  of  paper  upon  another,  but  writing  it  out,  care- 


CLA  SSI  PICA  TIOi^  OF  SERMONS  507 

fully  and  fully   each  time  independently,  till  I   perfectly 
knew  it  ;  till  it  was  fixed  absolutely  in  the  mind."  ' 

The  late  Rev.  Henry  Ware,  of  Cambridge,  Mass,  author 
of  a  most  valuable  essay  upon  Extemporaneous  Preach- 
ing, though  a  peculiarly  retiring  and  mod- 
est man,  was  really  the  pioneer  of  this  great      ^"'^      ^^^ 
.         .  ,    .       ,    ,.  .       ,  on  extempore 

reformation  in  pulpit  delivery  in  this  coun-     oreachiiur 

try,  which  reform  has  been   so  exceedingly 

slow  in  its  progress  that  it  seems  even  now  to  halt  as  if 

uncertain  of  future  success. 

In  the  biography  of  Mr.  Ware  the  difficulties  he  en- 
countered in  taking  this  bold  step  are  graphically  told. 
He  was  not  naturally  fluent  and  was  constitutionally  diffi- 
dent. His  first  attempts  were  in  his  weekly  prayer-meet- 
ings, and  perhaps  but  one  to  six  or  seven  of  his  sermons 
followed  this  method  ;  and  he  put  so  much  labor  into 
these  efforts  that  his  regular  extempore  sermons  gained 
for  him  very  little  time  or  study.  But  when  his  eyesight 
became  impaired  he  realized  the  benefit  of  this  method, 
and  his  extempore  speaking  was  distinguished  for  its 
simplicity,  gravity,  and  impressiveness.  He  says  in  a 
letter  to  his  brother  : 

"  Don't  give  up  the  ship  for  one  unfortunate  fire. 
Why,  I  have  suffered  more  than  Indian  torture  fifty 
times  ;  but  then  I  had  Indian  perseverance,  and  it  is 
only  by  not  flinching  that  we  can  gain  the  end  at  last. 
You  must  expect,  as  a  matter  of  course,  sometimes  to  do 
ill.  The  state  of  the  mind,  of  the  health,  of  the  digestive 
organs,  all  these  unaccountably  affect  the  intellectual 
powers.  And  then,  sometimes,  you  will  make  too  much 
preparation,  that  is,  trying  to  arrange  the  words  ;  and 
sometimes   make   too   little,  that    is    by    arranging   no 


'  "Conditions  of  Success  in  Preaching  without  Notes."  p.  109. 


508  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

thoughts  ;  and    in    either   case  you  will  flounder.      But 
after  beginning  it  were  wicked  to  be  disheartened." 

But    before    we    proceed    further   in  a   more  practical 

direction  let  us  ask,  What  is  extemporaneous  preaching  ? 

Extempore    preaching,  according   to    Co- 

IS      querel's  definition,  has  been  described  to  be 

extempore 

eachins-?    ^^^^  "  ^"  which  the  speaker  knows  what  he 

has  to  say,  but  does  not  know  how  he  is  to 

say  it."     C' La   veritable    improvisation  consiste  e?i  deux 

traits  inseparables  :  I'oratenr  sail  ce  quil  va  dire  et  ne  sait 

pas  comment  il  le  dira. ' ') 

Its  chief  force  and  inspiration  are  in  the  thought,  the 
idea,  the  substance  of  the  matter,  not  in  the  words.  It 
is  in  fact  trusting  to  the  moment  of  speaking  for  the 
form  of  words  in  which  the  thought  is  expressed.  That 
is  all,  though  that  is  a  great  thing. 

Extempore  preaching,  as  has  been  said,  is  not  im- 
provident or  unpremeditated  preaching.  If  extempore 
preaching  be  made  to  refer  to  unpremeditated  thought 
as  well  as  language,  we  would  have  none  of  it. 

Thus  purely  extemporaneous  speaking  is  almost  out  of 
the  question  except  as  regards  brief  expressions  of  opin- 
ion and  feeling  which  occur  spontaneously  in  the  excita- 
tion of  the  mind  upon  a  particular  theme,  and  do  some- 
times in  a  written  as  well  as  an  extemporaneous  dis- 
course. 

Schleiermacher,  although  he  preached  extemporane- 
ously, gave  this  counsel  (and  these  words  have  been  already 
quoted)  to  preachers  :  "  Before  going  into  the  pulpit, 
the  sermon  as  a  whole,  that  is,  the  separate  thoughts  in 
their  relation  to  all  the  members,  and  to  the  whole, 
should  be  clearly  in  the  mind."  ' 


'  Hagenbach's  "  Homiletics,"  p.   137. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  $09 

The  argument  sometimes  used  for  not  making  a  faith- 
ful preparation  for  preaching,  that  God  will  now,  as  in 
apostolic  times,  put  into  the  mouth  of  preachers  the 
words  they  shall  utter,  borders,  at  least,  upon  presump- 
tion, and  may  lead  to  fanaticism.  It  is  also  a  false  view 
of  Scripture,  and  is  sometimes  made  an  excuse  for  indo- 
lence and  hypocrisy. 

There  is  an  inspiration  which  at  favored  moments 
comes  upon  true  preachers,  in  which  they  do  become  the 
mouthpieces  of  God's  Spirit  ;  but  this  is  a  different  thing 
from  the  venturesome  assumption  that  God  will  inspire 
one  at  the  moment  of  utterance  with  just  what  he 
should  say. 

Bautain's  definition  of  extempore  speaking  is  this  : 
"  Extemporization  consists  in  speaking  on  the  first  im- 
pulse ;  that  is  to  say,   without   preliminary 

arrangement  of  phrases.      It  is  the  instan- 

.  .  .  definition, 

tancous  manifestation,  the  expression,  of  an 

actual  thought,  or  the  sudden  explosion  of  a  feeling  or 
mental  movement.  It  is  very  evident  that  extemporiza- 
tion can  act  only  on  the  form  of  words."  * 

Now  let  us  set  forth  briefly,  in  encouragement  of  this 
method,  rightly  understood,  a  few  of  the  advantages  be- 
longing to  this  mode  of  pulpit  delivery,  some  of  which,  it 
is  true,  are  obvious  and  familiar,  though  for  that  reason 
none  the  less  important. 

(i.)  It  stimulates  the  preacher.     It  wakes  him  up.     It 
makes  him  a  quick  thinker.     It  makes  him  master  of  his 
mental  powers.     It  goads  him  by  the  pres-  Advantages  of 
ence  and  sympathy  of  an  expectant  audience,    extempora- 
It    often   originates  entirely  new   thoughts,         neous 
of  living  power,  that  could  not  have  come      ®P^*  '"^" 
into  the  mind   in  the  calm  silence  of  the  study 
'  "  Art  of  Extemporaneous  Speaking,"  p.  3. 


5IO  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

We  quote  here  a  few  words  from  a  letter  of  Rev. 
Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  whose  little  work  on  "  Extemporane- 
ous Preaching"  has  been  commended.  He  was  meditat- 
ing the  change  in  his  own  method  of  preaching,  and 
writes  to  his  father  concerning  a  distinguished  English 
preacher  named  Spencer.      He  says  : 

"  Much,  too,  of  his  animation  and  effect  must  be  attrib- 
uted to  his  extempore  speaking,  which  gives  a  liveli- 
ness, an  energy,  and  a  glow  to  eloquence  that  is  not  other- 
wise attained.  I  have  already  begun  to  consider  seri- 
ously whether  I  shall  not  attempt  learning  the  art.  I  do 
not  mean  for  constant  practice  ;  but  some  subjects  may 
be  better  treated  by  extemporaneous  discourse  than  by 
written,  and  much  of  the  illustration  and  exhortation  of 
every  sermon  might  be  left  for  the  management  of  the 
moment.  It  is  unquestionable  there  is  a  life,  a  soul, 
as  it  were,  transfused  into  unpremeditated  expressions, 
which  appeals  with  far  greater  force  to  the  sympathy  of 
hearers  than  anything  which  can  be  written.  There  is  a 
j'e  lie  sais  qiioi  in  the  countenance,  the  tone  of  the  voice, 
the  gesture,  which  goes  directly  to  the  heart,  and  which 
you  in  vain  try  to  give  to  a  written  production. 

"  Animated  declamation,  even  if  it  be  rather  flat  sense, 
will  be  more  effectual  than  the  most  elaborate  composi- 
tion read  in  the  usual  way. 

"  Dugald  Stewart,  in  his  '  Essays,'  intimates,  you  may 
remember,  that   the   art   may  be  acquired  by  any  one  ; 
and,  if    I    could    obtain    it,  what  a  saving  of   time  there" 
would  be."  ' 

(2.)  It  breaks  up  a  stiff,  artificial  style. 

Gossner,  quoted  by  Hagenbach,  said  :  "  He  who  is  a 
true  preacher  is  not  obliged  first  to  meditate  and  conceive 


'  "  Life  of  Henry  Ware  Jr.,"  by  his  brother,  John  Ware,  M.D.,  p.  72. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS  5II 

at  a  writing-desk  what  he  has  to  say,  but  with  trustful 
courage  to  mount  the  pulpit  and  speak,  even  as,  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  fiery  tongues,  not  writing  pens,  fell 
from  heaven  on  the  apostles."  In  extempore  speaking, 
the  preacher  learns  to  go  at  once  to  the  heart  of  things, 
and  to  express  himself  in  a  direct  manner.  He  thus  ac- 
quires a  manly  straightforwardness.  The  elaborate  beau- 
ties and  fastidious  elegances  of  a  highly  rhetorical  style 
are  inconsistent  with  extempore  speaking.  Extempore 
speaking  tends  also  to  the  concrete  rather  than  the 
abstract  ;  to  vivid  manifestation  and  illustration  of 
thought,  rather  than  technical  reasoning.  It  is  less 
philosophical,  but  has  more  of  flesh  and  blood  in  it  ;  it 
makes  the  hearer  thrill  with  something  that  is  taken  from 
the  hour  in  which  he  lives,  the  thought  his  heart  is  busy 
with,  and  the  work  his  hands  are  glowing  with. 

(3.)  It  is  adapted  to  produce  immediate  effect.  It  en- 
ables the  speaker  thus  to  feel  the  pulse  of  an  audience,  to 
meet  its  exact  wants,  and  to  judge  of  its  state  by  those 
fine  and  delicate  signs  which  a  skillful  extemporaneous 
preacher  learns  to  detect.  It  gives  the  impression  that 
one  is  really  talking  to  the  audience  before  him,  and  to 
no  other.  Hence  extemporaneous  preaching  is  peculiarly 
adapted  to  times  of  revival  ;  and  it  is  a  strong  argument 
in  its  favor,  that  it  does  unconsciously  take  the  place  of 
other  methods  in  times  of  real  urgency. 

(4.)  It  has  more  of  outward  and  inward  freedom. 

It  enables  one  to  stand  erect  and  look  the  audience  in 
the  face.  The  hearer  naturally  seeks  the  eye  of  the 
speaker,  but  if  that  is  upon  his  notes,  and  there  is  no 
response,  a  dulling,  deadening  effect  is  produced.  The 
eye  has  wonderful  influence  ;  and  the  extempore  method 
gives  play  to  the  eye,  the  arm,  the  finger,  the  whole 
body,  and  also  to  the  subtler  motions  of  the  soul  ;  so  that 


512  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

the  whole  man  becomes  an  instrument  for  God's  Spirit  to 
speak  through. 

Thus  extemporaneous  preaching  is  really  the  most 
philosophical  method,  and  comes  nearest  to  the  ideal  of 
preaching,  which  is  the  bringing  to  bear  a  personal  in- 
fluence upon  hearers. 

Perhaps  the  highest  conceivable  efficiency  of  the  orator 
and  of  the  preacher  has  been  brought  out  in  extemporane- 
ous speech.  Though  every  speaker  is  not  capable  of  elo- 
quence, every  true  preacher  has  probably  done  Jiis  best  at 
a  moment  when  he  was  free,  when  the  pressure  was  on 
him,  when  he  must  speak  or  die,  and  when  to  his  own 
apprehension,  it  may  be,  he  was  making  the  most  entire 
and  conclusive  failure.  But  the  people  at  once  see  the 
difference  between  what  is  free  and  what  is  artificial — be- 
tween sincerity  and  false  confidence.  Once  let  it  be 
understood  that  the  strait-jacket  has  been  thrown  off, 
that  the  soul  acts  unrestrainedly,  and  the  congregation 
feels  it  and  rejoices  in  it. 

In  this  method,  the  preacher  is  able  to  use  whatever 
thought  occurs  to  him  at  the  moment.  He  is  not  pre- 
vented by  fears  that  it  will  spoil  the  unity  of  his  sermon. 
Locke  says,  "  Thoughts  are  best  which  drop  into  the 
mind."  With  all  previous  preparation,  room,  neverthe- 
less, should  be  left  in  extemporaneous  speaking  for  purely 
neiv  thoughts — thoughts  which  literally  occur  at  the 
moment.  Sometimes  one  may  change  the  whole  current 
of  his  discourse,  and  dwell  upon  a  thought  as  the  main 
thought,  which  he  intended  to  make  only  a  side  thought, 
or,  perhaps,  not  to  introduce  at  all  ;  and  this  is  the  ideal 
of  extemporaneous  preaching  :  not  often  reached,  it  is 
true,  but  sometimes  reached  when  the  speaker  is  inspired 
with  perfect  freedom  of  utterance. 

Then  too,  oftentimes,  in  speaking  new  exigencies  arise, 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  5x3 

sudden  needs  present  themselves,  individual  cases  sug- 
gested by  the  countenances  before  him  come  up  to  the 
preacher,  that  he  should  be  able  to  meet  at  the  moment, 
and  if  he  is  not  hampered  with  a  written  discourse,  he  is 
better  able  to  do  this.  The  people  feel  that  he  is  preach- 
ing to  thcvi,  not  to  an  imaginary  audience,  or  as  one  who 
is  beating  the  air. 

(5.)  It  enables  one  to  use  a  more  conversational  and 
sympathetic  style,  both  of  thought  and  delivery. 

This,  perhaps,  is  the  greatest  advantage  of  the  extem- 
poraneous method,  that  it  serves  to  abolish  a  strained 
style,  which  supposes  certain  circumstances,  and  certain 
characters,  and  certain  antagonisms,  and  certain  wants 
that  do  not  exist  in  an  audience — in  which  style  one  may 
write,  but  cannot  talk — and  tends  to  make  preaching 
more  like  ordinary  conversation,  without  at  the  same  time 
losing  its  dignity. 

Human  nature  runs  to  extremes.  Some  ministers 
offend  our  taste  and  shock  our  sensibilities  in  a  mistaken 
effort  to  be  all  things  to  all  men.  A  reverent  remem- 
brance of  the  Master  whom  they  serve,  should  save 
them  from  real  or  affected  coarseness,  levity,  egotism, 
and  effrontery.  A  minister  may  stoop  too  low  as  well  as 
stand  too  high  above  the  people.  The  old  high  pulpits 
are  taken  away,  and  the  low  reading-desks  are  put  in 
their  places,  and  that  is  well.  But  if  the  preacher  does 
not  stand  high  enough  for  the  people  to  look  up  a  little, 
and  for  him  to  have  a  clear,  broad  outlook  at  them,  both 
they  and  he  lose  something. 

"It  is  true  that  ministers  may  aim  too  high,  and  all 
their  sermons  go  over  the  heads  of  the  people  ;  but  there 
is  one  type  of  sermonizing  current  to-day  that  aims  too 
low.  In  breaking  away  from  the  old  professional  formali- 
ties and  pulpit  conventionalities,  and  cultivating  a  natural, 


5 '4  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

direct  talking  to  the  people,  something  of  the  real  dignity 
and  nobility  of  religious  truth  is  sacrificed.  A  preacher 
should  be  sure  to  hit  his  hearers.  The  truth  should  go 
straight  from  his  heart  into  theirs.  He  should  study  and 
practice  all  methods  of  attack,  that  there  be  no  armor 
proof  against  his  weapons.  But  this  can  be  done  by  lifting 
them  up  to  his  level,  as  well  as  by  stooping  down  to 
theirs.  A  skillful  general  decoys  the  enemy  from  their 
low  retreats  that  he  may  meet  them  on  good  vantage 
ground.  Truth  need  not  borrow  the  livery  of  any  strange 
master  ;  it  need  not  clothe  itself  in  garments  that  have 
been  draggled  in  the  mire.  Its  own  robes  will  fit  any 
form  of  humanity.  The  best  a  man  has  in  him,  used  in 
the  best  way,  is  never  too  good  for  God's  work,  though 
his  particular  part  of  that  work  may  seem  humble  and 
insignificant. 

"  Then  let  God's  ambassadors  meet  men  through  the 
best  there  is  in  them.  Let  the  minister  make  men  feel 
that  he  too  is  a  man  with  comprehension  and  sympathy 
for  whatever  enters  into  humanity,  but  let  him  choose 
wisely  and  purely  his  points  of  contact,  never  forgetting 
that  he  is  preaching  God's  truth." 

Let  a  man  talk  to  his  audience,  and  if  he  do  it  sensibly 
and  earnestly,  with  sufficient  care  not  to  be  low  in  lan- 
guage, every  one  will  listen  ;  just  as  everybody  will  listen 
to  any  one  who  converses  well.  The  moment  a  preacher 
ceases  declaiming,  and  begins  talking,  every  one  wakes 
up.  That  is  the  power  of  many  of  our  greatest  living 
orators,  both  clerical  and  secular.  These  men  do  not  talk 
spasmodic  nonsense,  but  their  "  forte"  lies  in  uttering 
fresh  and  substantial  thought  in  the  natural  language  of 
ordinary  and  earnest  conversation  among  men  ;  they  talk 
to  an  audience  as  one  clever  man  talks  to  another  ;  they 
gradually  bring  an  audience  into  their  own  way  of  think- 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  515 

ing  by  thus  stooping  to  conquer.  This  style,  when  kept 
free  from  familiarity  or  lowness,  is  the  perfection  of 
close,  affectionate,  reasonable,  interesting,  and  effective 
preaching. 

We  remember  an  extemporaneous  sermon  preached  by 
the  French  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  of  Quebec.  His  dis- 
course was,  for  the  most  part,  in  its  substance  and  doc- 
trine, sheer  Mariolatry  ;  yet  the  immense  assembly  hung 
entranced  on  his  words,  as  he  stood,  simply  erect,  with- 
out gesture,  his  hands  laid  passively  on  the  cushion  before 
him,  while  he  talked  in  a  natural  tone,  in  plain  but  beau- 
tifully-flowing periods,  and  without  hesitation. 

It  was  like  listening  to  a  strain  of  pleasing  music,  with 
nothing  highly  wrought,  but  bearing  the  minds  of  the 
hearers  steadily  upon  its  even,  calm,  and  rapid  flow.  It 
was  not  eloquence,  but  it  was  nevertheless  potent  to  hold 
a  great  multitude  in  wrapt  attention,  and  by  its  simple 
charm  of  natural,  unaffected,  fluent  speech,  to  command 
and  sway  men's  minds. 

If,  therefore,  extemporaneous  speaking  of  the  true  kind 
has  in  it  more  of  nature,  more  of  animation,  more  of  liv- 
ing appeal  to  the  heart  and  eye,  voice  and  gesture,  than 
any  other  method  ;  if  it  tends  to  put  preachers  en  rap- 
port with  their  congregations,  we  would  say,  Let  every 
preacher  who  can  do  so  begin  at  once  to  practise  it,  even 
if  it  cost  him  a  complete  revolution  of  his  mental  habits. 
Better  live  in  a  cave  six  months  until  he  has  become 
master  of  his  own  faculties  of  mind  and  body,  than  to 
be  a  dead  preacher,  who  cannot,  with  all  practical 
his  writing,  reasoning,  and  preaching,  reach  hints  for  ex- 
an  audience  or  a  soul.  temporaneous 

Let  us  now  give  a  few  practical  hints  for     preaching, 
extemporaneous    speaking,    at    the    risk    again    of    some 
repetition. 


516"  HOMILETICS  PROPER. 

(a.)  Train  yourself  to  think  without  writing.  This 
power  of  mental  abstraction,  or  what  Dr.  Brown  calls 
"the  imperial  presence  of  mind,"  is  the  source  of  ex- 
tempore speaking,  which  has  its  spring  in  the  thinking 
faculty.  Mental  discipline  tells  on  the  power  of  extem- 
poraneous speech.  One  should  have  some  logical  and 
theological  training  before  he  can  speak  clearly  on  divine 
themes;  for  "that  which  is  well  conceived  is  clearly 
enunciated,"  says  Bautain.  The  real  ability  for  extem- 
poraneous speaking  comes  from  having  clear  ideas,  not 
merely  from  having  the  faculty  of  language.  It  comes 
from  thinking.  Its  rationale  is  vigor  of  mind  disciplined 
by  culture.  As  we  have  said,  it  did  not  probably  require 
much  preparation  for  Luther,  nor,  in  more  modern  times, 
Robert  Hall  and  John  Wesley,  to  preach  on  any  subject 
connected  with  divine  truth  ;  and  so  it  may  be  with  any 
man  who  is  a  working  and  growing  theologian,  and  who 
has  cultivated  a  homiletical  habit  of  mind.  Such  a  man's 
actual  preparation  for  speaking  may  be  brief.  But  one, 
unless  he  have  extraordinary  talent  for  this  method  of 
speaking,  when  beginning  to  preach  extemporaneously, 
should  make  careful  and  particular  preparation  for  it. 

(d.)  Think  through  the  subject  beforehand. 

Everything  in  extemporaneous  speaking  depends  on  a 
complete  mastery  of  the  subject.  The  great  difficulty 
with  extemporaneous  preaching  is  that  it  may  run  into 
something  superficial.  Here  is  its  danger  ;  so  long  as 
that  is  avoided  it  is  safe.  If  one  does  not  give  as  much 
study  to  this  method  of  preaching  as  to  any  other,  or 
even  more,  he  will  not  succeed  in  it.  The  foundations  of 
the  sermon  should  be  laid  firm  and  deep.  There  should 
be  no  indefiniteness  or  obscureness  here.  Never  trust  to 
the  inspiration  of  the  moment  for  the  solid  parts  of  the 
discourse,  the  main  ideas,  the  arguments,  the  proofs,  the 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMOXS  517 

conclusions.  These  should  be  thoroughly  settled.  See 
the  whole  discourse  clear  through  to  the  end  like  sunlight 
on  a  road. 

It  is  a  fatal  mistake  to  suppose  that  extempore  preach- 
ing will  succeed  without  such  previous  study  ;  here  is  the 
mistake  that  has  lain  at  the  root  of  failure.  Bautain 
makes  a  great  deal  of  what  he  calls  the  "  main  idea  ;" 
there  must  be  this  main  idea  in  every  living  discourse,  and 
this  should  be  firmly  fixed  in  the  speaker's  mind.  How- 
ever he  may  be  moved  by  passionate  thoughts,  however 
freely  he  may  speak,  whatever  digressions  he  may  make, 
whatever  new  thoughts  or  illustrations  come  into  his 
mind,  let  him  not  lose  sight  of  the  end  he  has  in  view, 
and  this  will  remain  master  of  his  mind,  of  his  subject, 
and  of  his  hearers.  This  Avill  even  form  its  own  plan,  and 
ever}'-  detail  will  group  itself  naturally  about  this  princi- 
pal idea.  This  sustains  all,  and  must  never  for  a  moment 
be  lost  sight  of.  "  Nothing,"  says  Bautain,  "  is  so  fatal 
to  extemporization  as  this  wretched  facility  of  the  mind 
for  losing  itself  in  details,  and  neglecting  the  main  point." 
One  should  also  avoid  the  common  error,  in  extem- 
poraneous speaking,  of  talking  a  great  deal  about  unes- 
sentials  ;  of  introducing  long  and  stereotyped  phrases  of 
parliamentary  or  argumentative  persiflage  as  to  what  he 
intends  to  prove  or  say. 

(f.)  Prepare  beforehand,  either  mentally  or  on  paper, 
the   actual   wording   of   your  main  proposition    and   the 
principal  divisions,  and  perhaps  of  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant passages. 

The  actual  composition  of  the  discourse,  to  use  this 
word  in  its  largest  sense,  should  indeed  be  complete  in 
all  its  parts,  before  it  is  preached.  It  is  the  height  of 
foolish  audacity  for  one  to  go  into  the  pulpit  with  no 
definite  preparation  of  the  sermon,  with  a  text  unstudied, 


5l8  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

with  no  clear  plan,  with  confused  ideas,  and  with  a  few 
hurried  notes,  perhaps,  trusting  to  the  moment  to 
clear  up  difficulties  and  make  all  plain  and  forcible.  The 
price  of  good  extemporaneous  preaching  is  good  prepara- 
tion. It  may  be  recommended,  indeed,  to  some  beginners 
to  combine  the  two  methods  of  the  written  and  extem- 
poraneous sermon  ;  i.e.,  to  write  a  good  portion  of  the 
sermon — the  body  of  the  sermon — and  trust  the  rest  to 
the  utterance  of  the  moment.  The  illustrations,  for  ex- 
ample, may  be  given  extemporaneously,  and  will  gain 
decidedly  in  freedom,  vividness,  and  life.  But  perhaps 
it  is  best  at  first  to  write  out  the  sermon  altogether,  and 
then  if  you  choose  destroy  it.  That  will  have  aroused 
and  clarified  the  mind  ;  the  subject  will  have  become  a 
familiar  road  for  the  mind  to  travel  ;  by  and  by  one  can 
diminish  or  give  up  altogether  the  written  preparation. 
The  German  preachers  pursue  this  method  of  previously 
writing  their  sermons,  and  then  preaching  them  without 
the  manuscript.  The  Welsh  do  it  also,  and  they  arc  re- 
markable preachers.  This,  we  have  seen,  is  F.  B.  Zincke's 
famous  method  of  making  an  extempore  preacher. 

Into  the  pulpit  itself,  Dr.  J.  W.  Alexander  advises, 
"  carry  not  a  scrap  of  paper.  But  if  a  little  schedule  would 
give  more  confidence  at  first,  take  it."  We  should  say, 
quite  decidedly,  take  into  the  pulpit  a  written  sermon, 
or  nothing. 

One  can  learn  to  swim  only  in  the  water.  Bautain  is 
strongly  opposed  to  making  use  of  any  notes  in  extem- 
poraneous speaking  ;  he  does  not  even  think  that  the 
advice  of  Cicero  should  be  regarded.  Dr.  Mcllvaine  says  : 
"  Use  no  notes."  Confidence  in  speaking  comes  from 
trust  in  one's  own  mental  resources.  We  are  well  con- 
vinced that  when  one  has  acquired  a  tolerable  ease  in  ex- 
pressing himself,  that  to  have  clear  thoughts  is  of  more 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  519 

importance  than  anything  else  ;  and  if  one  have  the  whole 
sermon  orderly  arranged  from  beginning  to  end,  leaving 
no  gap,  something  more  than  a  mere  skeleton,  a  well- 
knit  continuous  frame-work,  if  he  have  the  ideas  thus  well 
arranged  and  woven  together,  the  words  will  take  care  of 
themselves. 

But  many  have  not  this  power  of  ready  expression,  and 
it  is  necessary  for  such  to  make  some  written  preparation, 
or,  at  all  events,  some  mental  composition  of  the  more 
important  portions  of  the  discourse.  The  old  motto  ap- 
plies to  it,  "  rise  up  early,  and  late  take  rest,  and  eat  the 
bread  of  carefulness."  It  ought  to  be  the  best  kind  of 
preaching,  because  its  principle  is  thought,  not  words. 

[d.^  Cultivate  the  faculty  of  expression.  We  have 
already  spoken  of  this. 

"  For  you  must  not,"  says  Bautain,  "  grope  for  your 
words  while  speaking,  under  the  penalty  of  braying  like 
a  donkey,  which  is  the  death  of  a  discourse." 

Not  only  the  power  of  thinking,  but  the  power  of  utter- 
ing, is  to  be  cultivated  ;  and  to  have  this  power — never 
to  be  at  a  loss  for  the  fit  word — this  itself  is  a  noble 
accomplishment.  The  faculty  of  expression  is  a  part  of 
clerical  education  that  has  been  too  much  neglected. 
Pitt  used  to  translate  aloud,  in  a  running  method,  from 
foreign  languages,  being  critical  in  the  choice  of  his 
words  ;  Cicero's  method  was  to  read  an  author,  and  then 
repeat  the  author's  thoughts  in  his  own  words.  The 
principle  of  association  is  a  great  law  of  facile  expression  ; 
for  one  may  accustom  himself  to  remember  what  he  has 
to  say  even  by  a  word  in  each  proposition  or  division — 
by  some  word  naturally  suggested  from  the  text  itself  ; 
but  it  is  better  to  remember  by  the  association  of  ideas 
than  of  words.  This  clue,  or  thread  of  ideas,  the  extem- 
poraneous speaker  should  never  lose  or  he  is  lost.     The 


520  HOMILETICS   PROPER. 

text  itself,  faithfully  kept  in  mind,  and  frequently  re- 
curred to,  is  the  best  and  most  natural  clue.  There  is, 
perhaps  no  better  way  of  cultivating  the  power  of  expres- 
sion, than  by  cultivating  the  habit  of  conversing  with 
facility,  accuracy,  and  correctness.  Let  no  one  allow 
himself  to  converse  loosely,  vaguely,  or  incoherently- 
avoiding  both  undue  precision  and  undue  laxness.  Yet 
there  is  a  certain  mere  facility  of  expression,  or  fluency, 
which  may  become  a  dangerous  gift  to  a  speaker.  It 
serves  him  in  the  place  of  thought,  and  it  will  be  soon 
discovered  to  his  injury.  It  also  tends  to  destroy  his 
power,  by  giving  him  an  appearance  of  arrogance,  or  a 
dictatorial  manner.  More  of  humility,  and  hesitancy  of 
speech,  is  sometimes  effective  in  a  young  speaker.  What 
have  been  called  "  fluent,  complacent,  mechanical  utter- 
ances" are  not  enough  for  the  pulpit. 

(r.)  Make  a  beginning  at  once.  Stand  not  shivering 
on  the  brink.  Eloquent  speaking  is  gained  by  always 
working  and  striving  for  the  power  of  free  and  forceful 
utterance,  and  by  giving  one's  whole  attention  to  it — by 
coming  up  to  it  again  and  again,  even  if  one  fails  at  first. 
It  is  doing  it,  and  not  preparing  to  do  it.  Robert  Hall, 
at  an  earlier  day,  as  well  as  some  distinguished  extem- 
poraneous preachers  of  the  present  day,  made,  it  is  said, 
miserable  failures  at  first  in  attempting  extemporaneous 
addresses. 

(/".)  Do  not  choose  too  easy  or  familiar  subjects.  This 
is  a  common  error.  The  mind  should  be  interested  in 
the  development  of  some  new  and  specific  truth,  in 
which  it  may  be  thoroughly  roused  and  tasked. 

Yet  once  more  before  leaving  this  subject  would  we 
emphasize  the  truth  that  in  order  to  become  a  good  ex- 
temporaneous speaker  one  must  put  more  study  and  labor 
into  an  extemporaneous  discourse,  than  he  would  into  a 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  521 

written  one.  When  men  are  willing  to  do  this  then  they 
may  talk  about  extemporaneous  speaking.  The  failure 
arises  in  making  this  method  an  excuse  for  not  studying, 
in  making  it  too  easy,  in  not  making  sufficient  prepara- 
tion. Better  far  the  written  sermon  than  the  incoherent 
off-hand  address,  without  good  work  in  it. 

(^.)  Look  beyond  and  above  the  opinion  of  men  upon 
your  preaching. 

To  speak  extemporaneously  one  must  have  courage, 
faith,  enthusiasm. 

Let  one  think  more  of  his  duty  than  of  his  reputation. 
If  one  has  this  spirit,  he  will  not  be  disheartened  at  a 
blunder,  nor  even  if  he  now  and  then  breaks  down.  A 
little  incorrectness  of  language,  or  halting  hesitation,  in 
extempore  speaking,  is  of  small  importance,  and  will  not 
be  censured  by  the  audience  so  much  as  the  speaker  im- 
agines— especially  if  they  see  he  is  in  earnest.  A  modern 
writer  well  says  of  a  young  speaker,  "  Sometimes  a 
momentary  pause — a  hesitation  to  collect  the  thought 
and  utter  the  right  word — is  a  becoming  act  of  deference 
to  an  intelligent  audience."  One  who  has  "  a  mission  to 
teach"  is  apt  to  forget  that  "  reserve  is  an  element  of 
strength."  It  is  better  not  to  be  always  finished  and 
polished.  A  rough,  ragged,  imperfectly  expressed  re- 
mark, boldly  thrown  out  and  left,  is  sometimes  more 
suggestive  to  the  hearer's  mind  than  the  most  elaborate 
paragraph.  One  should  not  go  back  to  improve  a  sen- 
tence in  extemporaneous  speaking.  Let  him  press  on 
boldly  to  the  end,  no  matter  how  he  comes  out. 

But  as  the  undue  fear  of  man  vanishes,  so  much  of  the 
im.aginary  difficulty  of  extempore  speaking  vanishes.  If 
a  great  part  of  extemporaneous  speaking  consists  in  pre- 
serving one's  presence  of  mind,  what  will  better  enable 
one  to  do  this  than  to  look  beyond  man  to  God  ? 


522  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

(Jl)  Cultivate  oratorical  delivery.  Here  elocution  is  of 
great  importance.  The  written  sermon  depends  much 
for  its  interest  upon  its  carefully  condensed  thought  ;  but 
the  extempore  speaker  must  have  everything  in  himself  : 
he  must  have  the  charms  of  good  delivery,  the  trained 
voice,  the  natural  gesture,  and  the  dignified  and  expres- 
sive attitude.  He  needs  all  the  helps  that  can  be  given 
by  the  eye,  the  hand,  the  "  eloquence  of  the  body  ;"  for 
it  is  with  him  good  delivery  or  nothing.  He  should 
acquire  a  clear,  distinct  articulation,  rising  and  falling 
naturally  with  the  thought  ;  varied  and  yet  even  ;  neat 
and  yet  capable  of  feeling,  and  of  vehement,  rending 
force  ;  and,  above  all,  free  from  tones  of  earthly  passion, 
and  breathing  pure,  holy,  spiritual  emotions. 

There  is  a  great  tendency  in  extemporaneous  speaking 
to  run  into  a  hurried  method  of  delivery.  The  speaker 
should  retain  his  calmness.  He  should  take  a  respiration 
of  the  right  length  to  speak  the  whole  sentence  with  ease 
and  effect.  He  should  not  get  into  a  run,  so  to  speak, 
and  hurry  his  throat  beyond  its  powers. 

Cicero  says  :  ''  Longissinia  est  coniplcxio  verbortwi,  quae 
volvi  lino  spiritu potest. "  "  The  longest  phrase  is  that  which 
one  is  able  to  pronounce  with  one  act  of  respiration." 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  keep  cool,  to  preserve  a  mastery 
of  all  one's  resources.  Therefore  it  is  better  to  speak 
slowly  at  first,  and  be  careful  to  frame  every  sentence 
carefully  and  grammatically,  and  to  finish  it  neatly  in  all 
its  parts.  By  and  by,  as  the  mind  gets  roused  and  active, 
it  can  frame  sentences  more  rapidly,  without  conscious 
effort.  The  preacher  may  be  his  own  master  of  delivery 
and  elocution-teacher.  It  is  thought,  chiefly,  that  does 
this.  It  is  said  that  Macready  studied  the  play  of 
"  Hamlet"  seven  years  before  he  felt  himself  equal  to  act 
it.      Every  sentence,  every  syllable,  had  received  thought, 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  523 

SO  that  he  was  able  to  bring  out  its  full  meaning  in  de- 
livery, to  give  it  its  effective  emphasis,  to  be  the  vehicle 
of  the  spirit's  winged  words. 

We  conclude  this  special  topic  of  the  classification  of 
sermons  according  to  their  delivery,  and  indeed  the  whole 
theme  of  Homiletics  proper,  with  three  practical  sug- 
gestions, as  summing  up  the  results  that  we  have  been 
able  to  arrive  at  on  this  important  subject  of  the  method 
of  preaching, 

I .   Let  the  preacher  who  earnestly  desires  to  be  effective 
in  the  pulpit,  but  to  whom  has  been  denied  the  extem- 
poraneous gift,  make  a  brave  attempt  to  se- 
cure   and   combine    the    advantages   of   the  ^ „,.,.:«„„ 

0  suggestions. 

three  methods  that  have  been  mentioned, 
since,  as  has  been  seen,  there  is  good  in  them  all.  Let 
him  write  out  his  sermon  carefully  and  fully.  Let  him 
commit  it  to  memory,  or,  at  least,  make  himself  perfectly 
familiar  with  it  ;  and  then  let  him  preach  it  as  a  free  dis- 
course, without  a  scrap  of  writing  before  him,  and  with- 
out great  care  to  adhere  strictly  to  the  preconceived  or 
precomposed  language.  This,  if  we  mistake  not,  is 
essentially  the  method  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Hall,  the 
eminent  Presbyterian  minister  of  New  York. 

If  one  will  only  take  the  pains,  the  unwearied  pains,  to 
follow  out  this  plan,  or  something  like  it,  he  can  secure 
the  benefits  of  the  written  method  with  its  thoughtful 
composition  and  precision  of  style  ;  of  the  memoriter 
method  with  its  ease  and  sense  of  confidence  which  it 
brings  ;  and  of  the  extemporaneous  method  with  its 
freshness,  naturalness,  vivida  vis  aniini,  and  freedom  of 
attitude  and  spirit.  This  is  doing  in  the  way  of  prepara- 
tion all  that  one,  humanly  speaking,  can  do.  It  is  the 
employment  of  all  his  powers,  the  very  utmost  of  his 
effort  and  care. 


524  HOMILETICS    PROPER. 

2.  Let  one  who  is  learning  to  preach  and  who  finds 
himself  tempted  to  facile  methods  of  preparation,  for  a 
time  at  least,  and  it  may  be,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  mingle 
the  two  styles,  viz.,  that  of  preaching  from  written  notes 
and  that  of  preaching  extemporaneously.  Let  him  speak 
half  of  the  day  in  one  and  the  other  half  in  the  other 
method.  This  is  strongly  recommended  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Shedd.' 

In  this  way  the  valuable  exercise  of  the  pen  will  not 
be  lost.  The  clear  arrangement,  the  accuracy  of  style, 
the  literary  and  artistic  elaboration  in  the  shading  of 
thought,  and  the  elegant  finish  and  brevity  which  the 
constant  use  of  the  pen  is  fitted  to  secure,  will  be  main- 
tained, while  at  the  same  time  the  extemporaneous 
method  will  be  restrained  from  its  extreme  and  loose  ten- 
dencies, and  will  gain  also  real  strength.  This  is  the 
method  which,  we  sincerely  believe,  most  preachers  could, 
with  the  best  success,  follow. 

3.  Let  him  who  is  strong  enough,  and  has  the  apostolic 
faith  (for  preaching  is  faith)  dare  to  make  use  of  a  more 
excellent  way.  We  speak  especially  to  young  preachers. 
The  all-absorbing  desire  to  save  men's  souls,  the  working, 
and  thinking,  and  living  for  that  purpose,  being  taken  for 
granted,  let  the  young  preacher  cut  loose  entirely  from 
the  trammels  of  writing.  Let  him  dwell  in  communion 
with  .the  Spirit  of  truth.  Let  him  train  himself  and  trust 
to  hardy  thinking.  Let  him  forget  himself.  Let  him 
purify  himself  to  become  the  true  exponent  of  God,  not 
aiming  to  be  eloquent,  but  to  speak  only  what  God  gives 
him  to  speak,  what  is  simple,  what  is  the  exact  fact,  what 
is  the  real  verity  respecting  God,  nature,  the  soul,  the 
law  of  God,  Christ  and  his  cross,  repentance,  faith,  the 


'  "  Homiletics  and  Pastoral  Theology,"  p.  242. 


CLASSIFICATION  OF  SERMONS.  525 

experience  of  the  heart,  its  real  trial,  anguish,  doubt,  sin, 
fear,  hope,  joy,  love  ;  in  a  word,  living  truth,  and  the  plain, 
earnest  thought  and  feeling  which  correlate  this  truth, 
and  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teaches,  and  thus  by  despis- 
ing eloquence,  by  not  meaning  to  be  eloquent,  to  be  elo- 
quent. Let  him  rise  above  the  fear  of  man  and  yield 
himself  boldly  and  wholly  into  the  hands  of  God  to  guide, 
to  teach,  to  inspire,  to  use.  Let  him  abjure  the  slavery 
of  the  writing-desk,  though  not  the  severe  labor  of  study, 
and,  having  given  all  his  powers  to  the  interpretation  of 
the  word,  and  having  his  mind  filled  with  the  truth  and 
his  heart  with  the  love  of  his  flock,  let  the  preacher  stand 
up  in  his  simple  manhood  on  a  level  with  those  he  ad- 
dresses, and  speak  like  a  prophet,  like  a  messenger  of  the 
love  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  to  men. 

Should  this  become  the  method  of  preaching  for  the 
next  hundred  years  of  our  American  Christianity,  as  it 
was  of  the  apostles  and  earliest  preachers  of  the  faith, 
then  will  a  great  light  spring  up,  and  it  will  be  recorded 
in  this  New  World  what  was  written  aforetime  in  old 
Judaea  :  "  So  mightily  grew  the  Word  of  God  and  pre- 
vailed." ' 


*  "  We  soon  learn  to  speak  what  we  love  ;  the  heart  supplies  us  much 
better  than  the  memory,  and  has  also  a  language  which  the  memory 
does  not  know.  A  holy  pastor,  moved  by  God,  and  by  regard  for  the 
salvation  of  souls  which  are  confided  to  him,  finds,  in  the  liveliness  of  his 
zeal,  and  the  fulness  of  his  heart,  expressions  having  the  impress  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  Spirit  of  love  and  of  light,  a  thousand  times  more  power- 
ful to  move,  to  reclaim  sinners,  than  all  those  which  are  furnished  by 
labor  and  the  vain  artifice  of  human  eloquence.  The  talent  of  an  orator 
is  not  what  is  required  ;  it  is  the  talent  of  a  father  ;  and  what  other  talent 
does  a  father  need  in  speaking  to  his  children  but  affection  for  them, 
and  a  desire  for  their  welfare."  Massillon  :  "  Dix-Septieme  Discours 
Synodal." 


PART  SECOND. 

RHETORIC    APPLIED    TO 
PREACHING. 


FIRST  DIVISION. 
GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF   RHETORIC. 

Sec.   22.  Definition  of  Rhetoric. 

Rhetoric  was  formerly  an  absorbing  study  in  schools  of 
learning  when  they  were  more  truly  theological  schools 
than  they  are  at  present,  and  in  ancient  times  it  com- 
prised the  full  half  of  education  ;  and  since  knowledge  of 
rhetoric  implies  an  acquaintance  with  logic,  metaphysics, 
and  the  science  of  language,  Milton  assigned  to  it  the 
last,  and,  as  it  were,  crowning  place  in  a  system  of  educa- 
tion ;  but  we  are  now  specially  to  discuss  some  of  the 
uses  of  rhetoric  as  applied  to  preaching — its  advantages 
in  enabling  the  preacher  to  master  and  methodize  truth, 
so  as  to  present  it  with  the  most  power  to  the  minds  of 
men,  that  they  may  more  readily  grasp  it,  and  that  it 
may,  by  God's  blessing,  produce  immediate  and  lasting 
results. 

As  it  is  needful,  for  this  purpose,  that  the  preacher 
should  make  use  of  his  natural  powers  ;  as  he  must  call 
into  exercise  his  reason  and  persuasive  faculties  ;  as  he 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  S^:? 

must  avail  himself  of  the  laws  of  mental  science  and  the 
capacities  of  human  speech,  just  as  he  does  in  conveying 
any  natural  truth  to  the  mind — it  thus  becomes  essential 
for  him  to  understand  those  universal  principles  of  per- 
suasion, and  those  laws  of  thoughtful  discourse,  which 
form  in  themselves  an  important  subject  of  inquiry,  and 
mark  a  definite  science. 

The  word  "  rhetoric"  is  derived  from  pljToop,  a  speaker, 
or  orator  (from  stem  ps,  to  speak,  seen  in  the   fut.  f/3c5,  I 

will  speak).     This    primary  meaning  of  the 

11        11        ,1       1  -1  ,•   .  .  ,       Derivation 

word  should  not  be  lost  sight   of  m  consid-     ^..j^  . 

ering  the  true  scope  and  functions  of  the 
art  of  rhetoric  ;  for  it  shows   that  the  term  was  origi- 
nally exclusively  applied  to  the  art  of  public  speaking,  or 
to  a  spoken  discourse. 

Before  endeavoring  particularly  to  define  what  true 
rhetoric  is,  let  us  notice  some  of  the  leading  ideas  which 
have  prevailed  concerning  it. 

(i.)  Ancient  ideas  of  rhetoric.     These  are  represented 

principally  by  Aristotle  and  Plato.   Aristotle 

confined  rhetoric  almost  entirely  to  the  art  ^^'^'^^^^  '^«" 

....  ,  .  T  ,  ...         of  rhetoric. 

of  public  speaking.     In  accordance  with  the       a  •  t  tl 

genius  of  the  free  Greek  state,  where  every 
citizen  was  an  independent  thinking  and  governing 
power,  and  the  state  was  chiefly  composed  of  the 
voting  citizens  who  resided  in  the  city,  and  could  thus 
be  reached  and  swayed  by  the  public  orator,  the  popu- 
lar deliberative  assembly,  in  which  the  civil  leader  or 
counsellor  could  come  directly  in  contact  with  the 
popular  mind,  was  the  great  field  for  the  practice  of 
the  rhetorical  art.  This  art  formed  one  of  the  chief 
means  of  obtaining  mastery  over  men — of  the  science  of 
politics.  It  therefore  became  associated  with  the  arts, 
managements,  and    sophistries    of  political  leaders,  and 


528  RHETORIC   APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

began  to    be    looked    upon    with    suspicion,  as   meaning 
something  in  itself  artful,  or  artificial. 

Aristotle,  although  he  gave  rhetoric  a  place  in  ethical 
science,  and  discusses  under  this  term  the  nature  of  the 
moral  sensibilities  and  passions,  still,  in  the  main,  he  re- 
garded it  in  the  light  of  purely  instrumental  art  ;  he 
looked  upon  it  as  a  means  of  mastery  ;  as  a  means  to  an 
end.  If  he  regarded  virtue  and  truth  as  true  rhetorical 
forces,  yet  he  considered  them  as  secondary  or  incidental 
elements  in  the  dynamics  of  rhetoric.  Rhetoric,  with  him, 
was  the  art  of  proving.  It  was  nearly  identical  with 
logic,  or  reasoning.  Whatever  would  enable  one  to  carry 
his  point,  to  gain  the  victory,  came  under  the  faculty  of 
*''Pt]rof)iH7']."  The  end  of  rhetoric,  with  Aristotle,  was 
persuasion.  He  called  it  "  a  faculty  of  considering  all 
the  possible  means  of  persuasion  on  every  subject."  '  It 
was  thus,  in  his  idea,  a  kind  of  offshoot  of  dialectics  and 
politics.  It  was  the  wrestling  of  mind  with  mind  ;  the 
skillful  and  strenuous  assault  upon  minds,  with  every 
means  of  argument  and  persuasion  to  subdue  them.  It 
was  the  art  of  making  men  believe  as  we  would  wish 
them  to  believe,  and  do  as  we  would  wish  them  to  do. 
Every  one  might  come,  good  or  bad,  and  gather  weapons 
from  this  art,  and  make  himself  a  powerful  man  to  carry 
his  ends  with  the  people.  Aristotle's  view  thus  gave  the 
turn  to  the  ancient  idea  of  rhetoric,  and  it  came  to  be 
looked  upon  as  a  species  of  dialectic  skill  that  might  be 
taught  and  acquired,  by  which  the  public  mind  could  be 
influenced,  and  ambitious  ends  attained.  By  the  dexter- 
ous use  of  words,  plausible  arguments,  striking  terms  of 
speech,  and  tricks  of  delivery,  the  orator  could  lead  the 
people  at  will.     Aristotle  argues,  as  has  been  said,  that 


'  Aristotle's  "  Rhetoric,"  B.  i.  c.  ii.  s.  i. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  5^9 

truth  itself  has  an  inherent  rhetorical  power,  and  he  has 
much  to  say  upon  the  ethical  aspects  of  the  art  ;  but,  if 
we  mistake  not,  the  view  which  has  been  given  was,  in 
the  main,  Aristotle's  conception  of  rhetoric  ;  and,  doubt- 
less, in  the  technical  sense  of  the  term,  he  was  correct — 
that  rhetoric  is  the  art  of  persuasion  by  public  discourse. 
Grote  says  that  Aristotle  preferred  philosophy  to  rheto- 
ric, and  therefore  he  has  made  his  "  Organon"  on  the 
logical  far  more  thorough  than  on  the  rhetorical  side.  In 
fact,  the  "  Organon"  itself  is  the  collection  of  Aristotle's 
logical  writings.  He  also  failed  in  the  sensibility  which 
distinguishes  an  sesthetic  from  a  logical  science  ;  and  he 
therefore  treated  style  as  a  merely  subordinate  depart- 
ment of  dialectics,  instead  of  being  a  science  by  itself.' 
His  own  style  was  good  as  far  as  it  went,  and  he  was 
greatly  opposed  to  the  ambitious  and  empty  style  of 
Isocrates  ;  but  he  did  not  appreciate  the  very  highest 
qualities  of  style.  His  faults  were  those  of  elliptical 
brevity  and  obscurity.  But  he  is  chiefly  anxious  to  lay 
down  the  principles  of  impugning  and  defending  theses. 
Rhetoric,  he  thought,  had  chiefly  to  do  with  words  and 
discourse,  not  with  thoughts,  facts,  and  things.  It  was 
the  power  and  accomplishment  of  discourse.  It  does  not 
deal  with  universal  or  scientific  facts,  but  with  opinions, 
accredited  opinions,  and  its  great  aim  is  to  persuade  an 
audience  into  a  favorable  opinion.  It  does  not  go  deeper 
than  opinion,  and  does  not  concern  itself  with  principles, 
or  with  establishing  by  induction  such  principles  as  may 
serve  as  the  basis  of  proof.  Rhetoric  was,  with  Aristotle. 
an  ingenious  setting  forth  of  the  general  opinions  cur- 
rent among  orators  and  public  men.  He  prescribes  the 
dialectic  exercise   to  speakers,  familiarity  with  popular 


'  Grote,  Aristotle,  v.  i.  p.  3S5. 


530  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

views,  and  power  of  talking  to  and  comprehending  the 
people — such  as  now  we  should  almost  call  the  art  of  the 
demagogue,  or  popular  tribune.  He  does  not  require  the 
rhetor  to  prove  but  only  to  persuade.  Notwithstanding 
all  this,  Aristotle  had  a  more  thoroughly  scientific  view 
of  rhetoric  than  Plato,  though  morally  not  so  noble. 

Plato  also  thought  that  rhetoric  belonged  to  the  pro- 
vince of  opinion  ;  but  he  would  address  men  with  argu- 
^,  ments  drawn  from  common  sense  and  rifrht 

Plato.  ,  ,  r 

rather  than  from  scientific  dialectics,  Plato 
in  heart  was  opposed  to  the  strictly  scientific  method  of 
Aristotle,  but  he  adds  much  that  is  noble  to  the  science. 
Morally  speaking,  he  held  higher  views  than  Aristotle, 
and  came  very  near  to  the  best  modern  conceptions  of 
rhetoric.  Under  the  name  and  sanction  of  Socrates,  in 
various  treatises,  above  all  in  the  "Gorgias,"  Plato  attacks 
the  mere  art  or  artifice  of  rhetoric,  showing  the  unphilo- 
sophical  and  unprincipled  character  of  the  sophistic  idea 
of  rhetoric,  as  a  mere  art  to  win  by  ;  that  if  it  were  solely 
the  application  of  means  to  an  end,  that  end  might  be  the 
basest  imaginable,  and  the  art  of  rhetoric  might  thus  be 
Avholly  the  art  of  deceiving  and  corrupting.  This  kind  of 
rhetoric,  founded  on  empirical  rules,  aiming  at  immediate 
success,  and  exalting  the  seeming  over  the  true — Plato 
pronounced  worthless.  He  proves,  also,  that  it  is  no 
true  art  ;  that  it  is  but  a  kind  of  skill  or  knack,  like  the 
boxer's  art.  After  refuting  this  low  idea  of  rhetoric,  he 
gives  his  own  conception  of  the  orator  ;  the  true  orator 
is  shown  to  be  the  man  who,  though  he  strives  for  mas- 
tery (and  Plato,  in  so  many  words,  calls  eloquence  "  the 
art  of  ruling  the  minds  of  men"),  yet  the  true  orator  is 
he  who  does  not  strive  alone,  or  mainly,  for  mastery,  but 
who  aims  to  build  up  truth  and  justice  in  the  state, 
and    to  exalt  himself  by  just  means,  and  for  the    good 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF   RHETORIC.  531 

of  the  people,  and  who,  even  if  unsuccessful  in  carrying 

his  point  or  in  obtaining  rule,  is,  nevertheless,  declared 

to  be  the  true  orator. 

Cicero  held  the  views  of  Aristotle,  from  whom  he  draws 

his  own.     He  speaks  of  his  own  art  with  the  enthusiasm 

and   zeal  of  an  orator,  rather  than  with  the 

Cicero, 
conscientiousness  of  a  philosopher.'     He  is 

even  more  intense  than  Aristotle  in  the  idea  of  the  purely- 
instrumental  character  of  rhetoric,  and  he  applies  oratory 
chiefly  to  the  business  of  civil  polity,  and  to  the  acquiring 
of  mastery  in  that.  He  exults  in  it  as  an  art  of  fence, 
or  as  a  strong  weapon  not  possessed  by  every  one,  and 
which  is  to  be  skillfully  wielded  for  the  purpose  of  self- 
defence,  power,  and  conquest  ;  he  says,  "  What  is  so 
useful  as  at  all  times  to  bear  about  those  weapons  by  which 
you  can  defend  yourself,  challenge  the  infamous,  and, 
being  wounded,  revenge?"'  Cicero  was  naturally  cold 
in  his  disposition,  and  inclined  to  ornament  for  its  own 
sake  ;  and,  though  often  affirming  it,  he  nevertheless,  in 
spirit,  differed  from  the  high  Platonic  or  Socratic  view, 
which  made  so  much  of  the  moral  idea  in  rhetoric  ;  and 
he  conceded  almost  everything  to  outward  grace,  orna- 
ment, and  attraction.  "  There  may  be  many  good 
speakers,"  he  said,  "  but  he  alone  is  eloquent  who  can  in 
a  more  admirable  and  noble  manner  amplify  and  adorn 
whatever  subjects  he  chooses,  and  who  embraces  in 
thought  and  memory  all  the  principles  of  everything  re- 
lating to  oratory,"  ' 

Quintilian's  idea  of  the  art  of  oratory  was  nearly  the 

same    as   that  held  by  Cicero,  although    he 

,  ,       .       ,  Quintihan. 

mamtamed,  with  much  more  emphasis  than 

Cicero   did,  that   eloquence  was  an  ethical  quality,   and 

'  "  De  Oratore,"  B.  ii.  c.  vii.  -  Idem,  B.  i.  c.  viii. 

^  Idem,  B.  i.  c.  xxi. 


532  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

that  the  orator  must  be  a  good  man.*  His  practical  idea 
of  rhetoric,  however,  was,  that  it  is  a  means  to  an  end, 
and  that  the  end  often  justifies  the  means  ;  and  his  brief 
definition  of  oratory  is,  "  the  science  of  speaking  well  ;" 
af^rming  the  great  object  and  the  ultimate  end  of  oratory 
to  be,  "  to  speak  well." 

(2.)  Modern   ideas  of  rhetoric.      In  considering  these, 
we  should  not  forget  that  ages  have  passed  away,  bring- 
ing great   changes  of  manners  and   thought 

with   them  ;    that  the    enlargement    of   the 
ideas 
of  rhetoric     "^^^'"^s  of  popular  address,  and  of  the  diffu- 
sion of  ideas,  chiefly  through  the  press,  has 
widened  the  field  of  rhetoric  ;  and  that  the  whole  moral 
revolution  which   Christianity  has  wrought   in  the  intel- 
lectual and  social  world  has  tended  to  elevate  the  concep- 
tion of  the  rhetorical  art.     As  one   of  the  forces  of  the 
world,  Christianity  has  claimed  rhetoric,  and   permeated 
it  with  something  of  its  own  spirit,  so  that  there  is  felt 
and  acknowledged  to  be   such   a  thing  as  Christian  elo- 
quence. 

As  to  the  actual  field  which  the  modern  idea  of  rhetoric 
embraces,  it  has  extended  itself  beyond  the  ancient  limit, 
which  was  confined  almost  entirely  to  public  speaking,  or 
oratory,  properly  so  called,  and  has  taken  in  the  art  of  prose 
composition,  and  even  some  kinds  of  literature,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  art  of  public  speaking.  It  has  come  to  signify, 
in  general  terms,  the  art  by  which  one  communicates 
thought  by  means  of  language,  to  other  minds.  But  it 
must  have  a  limit.  It  cannot  include  all  kinds  of  litera- 
ture. It  cannot  include  logic,  or  poetry,  or  philosophy, 
or  science  strictly  so  called.  It  is  not  itself  so  truly  a 
science  as  an  art.     It  is  an  art  which  is  or  should    be 


'  Quin.  Inslit.,  B.  ii.  c.  xx.  s.  4. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  533 

founded  on  a  scientific  basis — on  the  science  of  thinking 
or  logic  ;  and  on  the  science  of  intellectual  philosophy. 
But  it  must  confine  itself  more  especially  to  that  species 
of  composition  which  relates  to  the  means  of  popular 
persuasion,  to  the  art  of  discourse,  and  which  belongs, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  business  of  the  public  speaker. 
It  also  legitimately  includes  all  that  literary  and  dialectic 
training  which  fits  one  to  be  powerful  in  speech,  whether 
he  speaks  in  the  popular  assembly,  the  court,  or  the  pul- 
pit. The  education  of  the  speaker  or  orator  in  these  days 
comprehends,  of  course,  a  wider  field  than  in  the  ancient 
days,  especially  if  he  is  a  preacher  of  the  great  truths  of 
Christianity  ;  yet,  after  all,  the  area  of  the  rhetorical  art, 
though  enlarged,  is  essentially  the  same  as  of  old.  It 
continues  to  be  in  the  main  a  formal  science,  having  to 
do  more  exclusively  with  the  regulation  of  the  form  and 
method  of  public  speech  than  with  the  materials  of 
thought  or  contents  of  speech.  It  is  now,  as  then,  the 
art  of  public  speaking  for  the  purpose  of  persuasion  ;  and 
we  would  give  the  following  as  a  definition  of  rhetoric, 
applying   to   ancient    times   as   well  as  to  the   present  : 

Rhetoric   is  that  art  or  science,  which  has 

Rhetoric 
chiefly  to    do    with    the   laws   that    regulate       defined 

public  discourse  ;  and  it  properly  compre- 
hends all  that  necessarily  goes  to  make  up  the  education, 
training,  and  true  power  of  the  public  speaker.  The  prin- 
cipal term  in  this  definition — "  discourse" — maybe  itself 
thus  defined  :  "In  rhetoric,  a  discourse,  in  its  widest  ac- 
ceptation, is  a  series  of  sentences  and  arguinents  arranged 
according  to  the  rules  of  art,  with  a  view  of  producing 
some  impression  on  the  mind  or  feelings  of  those  to 
whom  it  is  addressed.  In  logic  this  term  is  applied  to 
the  third  operation  of  the  mind,  commonly  called  reason- 
ing." 


534  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

Eloquence   is   a   term   allied    to   that   of  rhetoric,   but 

differing  from  it,  as  a  gift,  or  a  power,  differs  from  an  art. 

Rhetoric  is  indeed  the  art  of  eloquence  ;  but 

oq^ence     rhetoric  is  not  eloquence.    Eloquence  comes 
in  its  ,  . 

rel  f  n       nearer  to  the  source  of  true  power  or  to  the 

to  rhetoric,  l^uman  speaker  himself  ;  while  rhetoric  has 
more  to  do  with  the  means  which  that 
/  speaker  employs,  or  with  the  language  and  form  of  dis- 
course. Eloquence  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  gift  of  nature 
rather  than  an  art  of  rhetoric.  It  belongs  to  a  man's 
personality,  and  to  those  powers  of  persuasion  with  which 
God  originally  endowed  him. 

But  what,   more  specifically,  is  eloquence  ?      It   is  de- 
rived from  "  c-loqui"  "  to  speak  out,"  as  it  were  to  speak 
y  from  the  inmost  strength,  the  deepest    convictions,  the 

central  personality  of  the  orator.  It  is  the  power  of  the 
soul  manifesting  itself  in  speech  to  move  and  sway  other 
souls.  It  is  an  original  power,  however  cultivated,  rather 
than  an  acquired  skill. 

Many  definitions  or  descriptions  of  eloquence  have  been 

given,  and  we  will  mention  some  of  these,  so  that  from 

them  it  will  be  more  easy  to  come  at  a  com- 

arious       prehensive  idea  of  this  great  power  which 
definitions     f         ,  ,  ,  , 

of  eloauence  always  exerted,  and  always  will  exert,  so 

mighty  an    influence   in   the  world.      For  a 

more    general    conception    Tacitus'    description    of    the 

orator  might  suffice  :     "Is    est  orator  qui  de  oinni  qiies- 

tione  piilcJirc,    ct  ornate,   et  ad  persiiadendiim  apte  dicere, 

pro  dignitate  reriini,  ad  utilitatem   temporwn,  cum  volup- 

tate  andientiiini  possit."  '     The  true    orator   is   one  who 

is    able    to    speak    upon    every    subject    with    a    diction 

pure,  elegant,  fitted    to   persuade,  according  to   the   im- 


■  "  Dialogue  upon  Orators,"  xxx. 


GENERAL   PRIXCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  535 

portance  of  the  theme,  the  fitness  of  the  occasion,  and 
with  pleasure  to  his  hearers. 

Milton's  definition  of,  or  more  properly  allusion 
to,  eloquence,  in  his  "  Smectymnuus"  is  this  :  "  True 
eloquence  I  find  to  be  none  but  a  serious  and  hearty 
love  of  truth — of  a  mind  fully  possessed  with  the  pur- 
pose to  infuse  truth  into  the  minds  of  others  ;"  and 
he  adds  that  "that  is  most  eloquent  which  turns  and 
approaches  nearest  to  nature  ;"  and  again  he  says,  "  True 
eloquence  is  the  daughter  of  virtue.  Great  acts  and 
great  eloquence  go  commonly  hand  in  hand." 

The  illustrious  French  Parliamentary  orator,  La  Bru- 
yere,  gives  this  definition  of  eloquence  :  "  The  gift  of  the 
soul  which  makes  one  the  master  of  the  mind  and  heart  of 
others,  and  enables  him  to  inspire  them  as  he  wills,  or  to 
move  them  to  do  what  he  pleases."  Dr.  Webster's  defi- 
nition is,  "  The  ability  to  utter  strong  emotions  in  an 
elevated  and  forceful  manner."  Craig's  view  of  elo- 
quence is  similar  to  Webster's,  viz.,  that  it  "  represents 
the  strong  emotion  in  the  speaker  adapted  to  excite  cor- 
responding emotion  in  the  hearer — that  it  comprehends 
also  fluency,  grace,  good  delivery,  and  animated  action." 

Rees'  definition  is,  "  The  art  of  representing  our 
thoughts  and  feelings  in  precise  form  and  elegance,  and 
the  illuminating  of  the  reason  by  the  colors  of  the  im- 
agination." Professor  Goodrich  simply  called  eloquence 
"  the  power  of  persuasion."  Professor  H.  N.  Day  calls 
it  "the  power  of  fluent  and  continuous  expression." 
Goldwin  Smith's  definition  is,  "  The  fusion  of  reason 
in  the  fire  of  passion."  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson's  de- 
scription is,  "  Eloquence  is  the  appropriate  organ  of  the 
highest  personal  energy  ;"  and  again  he  says,  "  Elo- 
quence is  to  take  sovereign  possession  of  an  audience." 
Vinet  defines  eloquence  to  be  "  the  power  of  sympathy 


536  RHETORIC  A  PR  LIED    TO  PREACHING. 

in  speech,  or,  of  communicating  thought  and  feeling  by 
apprehending  the  condition  of  the  hearer's  mind,  and  by 
so  chording  in  witli  his  thought  that  a  certain  magnetic 
union  of  minds  is  evolved,  in  which  the  hearer's  mind  is 
penetrated  with  new  life  and  power."  * 

Each  of  the  definitions  which  have  been  given  contains 
some  truth,  and  sets  forth  some  essential  quality  of  elo- 
quence, such  as  fluency,  imagination,  feeling,  the  highest 
or  the  lowest  quality  ;  but  of  all  these  definitions  Vinet's 
is  the  most  comprehensive  and  therefore  the  most  true ; 
because  it  brings  into  view  not  only  the  truth  that  elo- 
quence is  exerted  through  speech,  or  that  language  is  its 
instrument,  and  that  it  implies  fluency,  vividness  of  the 
imaginative  faculties,  a  condensed  elegance  of  style,  and 
a  precise  and  clear  logical  method;  but  it  also  emphasizes 
the  still  more  important  truth  that  in  genuine  eloquence 
^  sympathy  between  the  speaker  and  his  audience  is 
awaked.  It  is  the  power  of  soul  upon  soul,  the  reciproc- 
ity of  intellectual  and  emotional  influence,  so  that  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  speaker  are  communicated 
as  by  a  magnetic  power  to  the  hearer,  and'  the  two  for 
the  time  are  made  morally  and  spiritually  one,  by  the 
fusing  power  of  the  truth  uttered  in  the  fire  of  a  strong 
purpose.  If  we  add  to  this  the  idea  of  persuasion, 
that  this  sympathetic  union  evolved  is  sufficient  to 
bear  the  understanding  and  will  before  it  as  by  a  tor- 
rent's force,  and  to  lead  to  real  belief,  choice,  and  action, 
then,  it  seems  to  us,  we  have  got  as  near  the  com- 
plete idea  of  eloquence  as  we  caUi  ^.  The  real  force  of 
eloquence  is  thus  seen  to  reside  in  the  essential  quali- 
ties and  the  inmost  affections  and  energies  of  the  soul, 
which  are  perhaps  rarely  aroused   to  their  depths,  but 


'  "  Homiletics,"  p.  23. 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  537 

which,  when  they  are  aroused,  and  when  they  do  find 
expression  in  any  adequate  form  of  words,  produce  the 
great  effects  of  eloquence. 

It  may  be  seen,  therefore,  that,  though  cognate  terms, 
and  occurring  often  in  the  same  relations.  Rhetoric  differs 
from  Eloquence  as  an  art  differs  from  a  power  which  is 
exerted  through  that  art  ;  and  that  however  we  define 
eloquence,  the  definition  which  we  have  given  of  rhetoric 
cannot  be  greatly  disparaged.  There  assuredly  must  be 
and  is  an  art  Avhich  has  to  do  peculiarly  with  the  power 
and  success  of  the  public  speaker,  and  which  has  its  bear- 
ing upon  his  eloquence  itself  ;  and  this  art  is  the  art  of 
rhetoric.  Emerson  says,  "  The  conscious  utterance  of 
thought,  by  speech  or  action  to  any  end,  is  art."  He 
who  speaks  must  have  an  end  in  view,  and  must  train 
himself  for  speaking  so  as  to  speak  eff'ectively,  to  attain 
his  object  ;  and  whatever  tends  directly  to  give  effective- 
ness to  a  public  speaker,  Avhether  it  is  in  the  cultivation 
of  the  reasoning  faculjty,  or  the  study  of  language  and 
style,  or  even  elocutionary  discipline,  is  therefore  fairly 
included  in  the  art  of  rhetoric. 

But  modern  ideas  of  rhetoric  have  improved  upon  the 
ancient  more  in  their  intrinsic  conception  of  rhetoric  than 
in  the  extent  of  its  appropriate  field  ;  and  yet  it  is 
wonderful  how  the  ideas  of  Aristotle  and  Plato,  who 
represent  the  two  poles  of  the  human  intellect,  con- 
tinue to  control  the  world  of  philosophy  and  art. 
Some  modern  writers  on  rhetoric  incline  to  the  lower 
Aristotelian  view,  that  it  is  strictly  an  art  of  persua- 
sion ;  that  truth  is  but  one  of  the  means  or  instru- 
ments of  persuasion,  and  that  rhetoric  has  little  or  noth- 
ing to  do,  intrinsically,  with  virtue  or  vice,  truth  or 
error  ;  most  writers,  however,  incline  to  the  profounder 
Platonic  view,  that  rhetoric  must  have  a  moral  ground- 


53S  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

work  ;  and  Christianity  deepens  this  moral  idea  of  art, 
and  makes  acts  of  words — acts  full  of  moral  significance 
and  choice. 

Whately,  in  the  structure  of  his  mind,  was  an  Aris- 
totelian, although  his  purer  morality  and  Christian  cul- 
ture served  in  many  ways  to  modify  and  elevate  his 
views  ;  but  he  looks  upon  rhetoric,  and  logic  also,  as 
purely  instrumental  arts,  "  though  applicable  to  various 
kinds  of  subject-matter,  which  do  not  properly  come 
under  them."  '  The  materials  of  thought,  or  the  moral 
groundwork  of  the  oration,  he  does  not  consider  as 
belonging  at  all  to  rhetoric  ;  but  he  confines  rhetoric 
entirely  to  the  method  of  employing  these  materials. 
It  is  the  art  of  handling  the  tools,  whatever  the  work 
may  be.  Rhetoric  is  the  best  way  to  persuade  men 
to  think  as  we  do.  Looking  upon  it  in  this  light,  he 
defines  rhetoric  to  be  "  the  art  of  argumentative  com- 
position ;"  ^  and  his  treatise  is  mostly  taken  up  with  dis- 
cussing the  mode  of  constructing  an  argument  so  as 
effectually  to  subdue  the  reason,  passion,  and  will.  It 
is  a  good  digest  of  rules  upon  the  composition  of  argu- 
ments. 

Theremin,  a  thorough  Platonist,  holds  that,  though 
rhetoric  is  essentially  an  art,  or  something  instrumental 
to  the  attainment  of  an  end  not  in  itself,  and  that, 
though  it  has  to  do  with  the  form  rather  than  the 
material  about  which  it  is  employed,  yet  that  elo- 
quence is  at  least  one  of  the  fundamental  powers  in 
man  ;  and  that  it  has  its  root  in  his  moral  nature.  He 
holds  that  the  subject-matter  of  eloquence  must  always 
be  to  aX7]6k — the  truth.  He  terms  eloquence — as  did, 
indeed,  Quintilian  and   some    of  the  older   writers — "  a 


'  "  Elements  of  Rhetoric"  (Monroe's  ed.),  p.  20.  "  Idem,  p.  21. 


GENERAL    PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  539 

virtue  ;"  and   he   regards  it   as  directly   springing    from 
those  moral  qualities   in   the  speaker  and   in  the  hearer 
which  underlie  the  mere  form  or  art  of  the  speech  itself. 
Every  element  of  rhetoric,  considering  it  to  be  the  "  art 
of  eloquence"— such  as  the  law  of  adaptation,  the  law  of 
progress,  the  law  of  vivacity,  the  law  of  clearness,  etc. — 
he  develops  from  some  principle  in  the  ethical  nature  of 
man  ;  which  view  certainly  ennobles   rhetorical   studies, 
for  it  leads  the  speaker  to  look  into  himself  for  power, 
rather  than  to  any  acquired  skill.    We  shall,  in  a  moment, 
look  at  this  a  little  more  carefully,  but  that  Theremin's 
view  has  some  truth  in  it  may  be  seen  from  the  classic 
orators  themselves,  although  they  may  have  been  built 
upon  a  shallower  idea  of  their  own  art.     It  came  out  in 
their  discourse,  because  as  men  they  were  greater  than 
their  theories.      The    moral  power  of  Demosthenes  was 
strikingly  shown  in  his  superiority  to  the  mere  skill,  or 
artifice  (however  extraordinary),  of  his  rival,   yEschines. 
Supposing  their  intellectual   acumen   to  have  been    the 
same,   the    arguments   of   Demosthenes   were    generally 
drawn   from  universal  principles   of  truth   and   right    as 
they    existed    not    only  in    himself   but  in  his    hearers  ; 
therefore  Demosthenes  was    the  greater  orator,   and  tri- 
umphed because  truth  and   right  Avere  stronger  powers 
than  their  opposites.   Should  rhetoric,  or  eloquence,  even, 
be  considered  as  nothing  more  than  an  art,  that  does  not 
alter  the   truth   of   the   assertion   that    it    must  have  an 
ethical    foundation  ;   for   every   true   art   must   have  this. 
Why  has  the  art  of  sculpture,  which  is  but  the  skill  of  a 
man  to  hew  an   inanimate   block   of  stone  into  a  certain 
shape,  exerted  such  a  living  influence  on  the  world  ?    Why 
have   its  great   masters— Phidias,    Michael    Angclo,    and 
Canova— been    real   powers?     It    is   because    they  were 
great  men  themselves  ;  and  in  their  works  they  drew  from 


540  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

the  depths  of  their  spiritual  nature.  Michael  Angelo's 
colossal  statue  of  Moses  is  a  highly  ethical  work,  repre- 
senting the  author's  ideal  conception  of  the  grandeur,  un- 
changeableness,  and  majesty  of  the  moral  law.  Feeling, 
intense  reverence,  deep  meditation  on  the  character  of 
Godj  are  combined  in  this  production  ;  it  is  unspoken 
eloquence.  Eloquent  speech,  far  more  than  such  a  cold 
art  as  sculpture,  is  something  which  must  flow  from  the 
^  depths  of  the  moral  nature  and  character.  As  far  as  one 
is  a  true  man,  and  is  in  agreement  with  the  law  of  truth 
which  rules  man,  and  which  is  perfect  in  the  mind  of 
God,  so  far  his  speech  will  be  the  expression  of  the 
truth  which  is  in  him  ;  if  not,  it  is  false  eloquence  and 
false  rhetoric.  V  If  there  is  no  depth  to  a  man,  no  inward 
harmony  with  the  truth,  he  cannot  possibly  be  an  elo- 
quent man,  though  he  may  be  a  skillful  and  plausible 
pleader  ;  for  truth  alone  is  eloquent,  because  it  finds  its 
^  correspondence  in  every  man's  conscience  and  heart,  and 
because  truth  can  be  advocated  and  defended  only  by 
truth,  in  the  spirit  of  truth. /'/ 

While  the  theory  of  Theremin,  that  "  eloquence  is  a 

virtue"  when  stated   in  this  bare  and  unmodified  form, 

may  bean  unscientific  statement,  which  fails 

Theremin's    to  recognize  the  real  distinction    between  a 

theory  that    spg^^i^g  Qf  ^rt  and  a  principle  of  ethics,  and 

._^         would  be  therefore  inconvenient  for  use  in 
IS  a  vartue. 

accurate  scientific  discussion  ;  yet  this  theory 
aims  to  express  a  substantial  truth,  which  might  be  cor- 
rectly and  even  scientifically  expressed  somewhat  in  this 
form  :  that  true  eloquence,  or  the  highest  kind  of  elo- 
quence, has  necessary  relations  to  ethical  principles.  The 
oldest  rhetoricians — Aristotle  himself  first  of  all — enunci- 
ated the  axiom  that  the  orator  must  be  a  good  man.  Aris- 
totle spoke  of  the  importance  of  rjOiHt]  marii  (moral  con- 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  54 1 

viction)  in  that  part  of  the  orator's  work  which  was  inartifi- 
cial ;  this  weighty  saying  of  antiquity  that  the  "  orator 
must  be  a  good  man"  still  has  weight,  and  has  been  de- 
veloped into  a  system  by  Theremin.  It  has  weight  be- 
cause eloquence,  as  we  have  seen,  is  mainly  personal,  ^ 
and  springs  principally  from  the  soul.  If  the  soul's  char- 
acter be  in  harmony  with  truth,  the  expression  of  the  soul 
in  speech  will  carry  with  it  the  superadded  power  of 
truth,  of  virtue,  and  thus  be  eloquent.  Emerson  says, 
"  The  key-note  of  Demosthenes'  orations  is  this,  '  virtue 
secures  its  own  success  ;  '  "  and  he  further  says,  in  rela- 
tion to  all  art,  including  that  of  eloquence  :  "  Proceeding 
from  absolute  mind,  whose  nature  is  goodness  as  much  as 
truth,  the  great  workers  of  art  are  always  attuned  to 
moral  nature  ;"  and  he  puts  forth  this  idea  in  an  aphor- 
ism which  comprehends  the  whole  subject:  "  If  the  earth 
and  sea  conspire  with  virtue  more  than  vice,  so  do  the  j, 
masterpieces  of  art."  ' 

As  the  substance  of  eloquence  is  truth,  or,  as  eloquence 
has  to  do  with  the  enunciation  and  manifestation  of  truth, 
so  no  positively  untrue  or  bad  man  can  be  in  the  highest 
sense  eloquent.  He  may  be  an  apt  pleader,  a  debater  skill- 
ful at  making  the  worse  appear  the  better  cause,  but  he 
cannot  accomplish  the  results  of  the  highest  rhetorical  art, 
because  he  cannot  appeal,  with  entire  strength  and  con- 
viction, to  the  principles  of  truth  in  the  human  breast.  "^ 
These  are  necessary  principles  ;  and  true  eloquence,  as  well 
as  all  true  art,  rests  on  the  foundation  of  what  is  neces- 
sary. God  in  the  nature  of  things  has  made  truth  more 
powerful  than  untruth.  Thus  we  see  that  even  bad 
men,  in  order  to  persuade  or  to  use  the  eloquence  of  per- 
suasion, have  to  appear  to  be  good,  to  "  feign  a  virtue  if 


'  "  Society  and  Solitude." 


542  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

they  have  it  not."  They  employ  good  means  to  the  at- 
tainment of  bad  or  selfish  ends.  In  the  fervid  discus- 
sions at  the  time  of  the  French  revolution,  in  periods  of 
religious  persecution,  when  in  the  name  of  religion  men 
have  been  urged  to  tyrannical  measures  and  acts,  and 
even  in  frequent  cases  of  private  criminality,  the  appeal 
has  invariably  been  made  to  arguments  based  on  moral 
principles.  There  is  another  point,  also,  to  be  noticed  in 
this  subject.  We  have  seen  that  the  true  sphere  of 
eloquence  is  the  common  thought  and  sympathy  of  all, 
or  that  it  must  be  a  production  of  the  universal  soul  ; 
that  it  must  appeal  to  the  common  sentiment,  conscience, 
and  heart  ;  now  this  common  sympathy  can  only  be 
realized  in  the  deeper  and  essential  principles  of  our 
nature — in  those  universal  principles  of  justice,  right, 
goodness,  and  truth,  upon  which  our  moral  nature  is 
founded.  This  illustrates  the  old  saying  that  you  can 
only  make  a  man  believe  what  he  believed  before — what, 
in  fact,  God  created  him  to  believe. 

It  is  true  that  many  positively  controvert  this  view  that 
eloquence  has  ethical  foundations.  Pascal  was  of  the 
opinion  that  eloquence  was  purely  an  instrument,  merely 
a  skill  of  persuasive  speech  that  might  lend  itself  indiffer- 
ently to  good  or  to  evil.  Now  there  is  undoubtedly  a 
power  of  persuasion  often  given  to  evil  which  is  great  and 
vastly  injurious,  because  it  weaves  itself  in  with  the  cor- 
rupt tendencies  of  human  nature,  but  that  the  greater 
power,  the  genuine  and  permanent  power  of  persuasion, 
remains  with  good,  may  be  seen  especially  from  three 
considerations,  i.  Truth  has  a  real  witness  of  con- 
viction in  a  man's  own  conscience,  while  evil  has  not. 
Truth,  not  untruth,  produces  repentance  and  remorse. 
This  powerful  and  intuitive  plea  of  conscience  adds 
therefore   to   the    eloquence     of    truth.     It     is    an    ally 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  543 

of  tremendous  power.  2.  The  object  of  eloquence,  jf 
or  of  right  speech,  logically  considered,  is  truth  ;  or, 
more  strictly,  to  free  truth  from  error  (a  principle 
taken  advantage  of  sophistically  by  bad  men),  therefore 
eloquence  is  logically  on  the  side  of  truth.  3.  The 
greater  the  confessed  persuasive  power  of  evil  the  greater  ^ 
is  the  responsibility  laid  upon  truth,  or  upon  those  who 
represent  and  uphold  truth,  to  plead  its  cause  eloquently 
and  effectively  ;  to  bring  out  its  hidden  forces  ;  to  make 
the  truth  bear  on  the  conscience,  purely  and  persuasively, 
so  that  men  shall  yield  to  it  and  obey  it.  Therefore  there 
is  an  added  motive  of  tremendous  power  which  in  itself  has 
a  mighty  influence  upon  the  production  of  true  eloquence. 
If  it  then  be  true  that  eloquence,  or  the  art  of  elo- 
quence, which  is  rhetoric,  if  not  strictly  an  ethical  science 
or  principle,  has  ethical  foundations  ;  if  it  be  true  that 
it  is  so  closely  related  in  its  sources  of  power  to  moral 
forces  ;  if  it  be  true  that  the  highest  eloquence  is  insep- 
arable from  character  in  the  speaker,  and  that  "  the  per- 
fection of  the  orator  rests  on  the  perfection  of  the 
man  ;"  then  this  truth  becomes  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance to  the  preacher,  and  it  applies  to  him  with  a  sig- 
nificance that  it  does  to  no  other  public  speaker.  The 
preacher  must  be  what  he  speaks  : 

"  Thou  must  be  true  thyself,  j^ 

If  thou  the  truth  wouldst  teach." 

He  must  love  that  Lord  whom  he  proclaims  and  he  must 
love  his  fellow-men  as  himself.  He  must  delight  in  his 
inmost  mind  in  the  truth  ;  he  must  be  joined  with  it,  he  / 
must  be  one  with  it,  and  he  must  possess  a  character  of' 
genuine  goodness,  truth,  and  righteousness.  His  spirit- 
uality of  mind  is  a  prime  source  of  his  power.  Out  from 
his  own   soul,  brought  into  harmony  with  the  will  and 


544  -miETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

truth  of  God,  must  flow  resistless  currents  of  divine  per- 
suasion. The  purity  and  strength  of  his  moral  purpose 
is  a  necessary  factor  of  his  success  as  a  preacher. 

He,  at  all  events,  is  not  one  who  speaks  to  catch  the 
ear,  or  to  produce  a  temporary  sensation,  he  speaks  to 
make  the  truth  which  is  in  him  so  vividly  seen  and  so 
genuinely  felt  by  the  hearer,  that  the  hearer  shall  grasp  it 
and  make  it  an  eternal  possession.  A  thorough  convic- 
tion of  the  truth  and  a  deathless  love  of  it,  are  the  real 
-^  sources  of  eloquence  in  the  preacher.  These  are  summed 
up  in  the  single  word  faith,  which  includes  both  the 
divine  gift  and  the  human  character.     Our 

^     real  preaching  power  is  our  faith.     This  was 
real  preaching    ,  ,  .     ,  ,  ,       r     i 

power  eloquence  of  the    apostles    and   of  the 

first  Christian  preachers.  2  Cor.  4:13, 
"We  believe,  and  therefore  speak."  This  is  what  Dr. 
Bushnell  calls  "  the  faith-talent  :"  it  is  the  pure  speech  of 
the  word  speaking  in  us  ;  it  is  the  utterance  of  believing 
and  purified  souls  ;  for  if  the  orator,  according  to  Plato, 
must  be  a  good  man,  how  much  more  the  preacher,  ac- 
cording to  Christ  !  Is  not,  indeed,  the  Christian  preacher 
"  that  great  orator"  who,  Quintilian  said,  "  had  not  yet 
appeared,  but  who  may  hereafter  appear,  and  who  would 
be  as  consummate  in  goodness  as  in  eloquence."  * 

Chrysostom,  however,  severely  censured  the  error  of 
considering  the  preacher  as  a  mere  orator,  and  he  reduced 
all  the  eloquence  of  preaching  to  this  one  object — to 
please  God."  But  to  speak  God's  will,  "  to  minister  in 
the  spirit,"  requires  an  anointing  from  the  Holy  One  ; 
and  the  New  Testament  is  full  of  the  application  of  this 
(as  we  think)   truly  rhetorical  principle,  that  out   of  his 


'  Instit.,  B.  xii.  c.  i.  s.  24. 

'  Meander's  "  Life  of  Chrysostom,"  p.  73. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  545 

own  character,  out  of  his  inward  union  with  the  Spirit  of  jl^ 
truth,  springs  the  preacher's  power. 

Dr.  Bushnell.  in  his  "  GQcHn_Christ,"  has  an  eloquent  ^ 
passage  upon  the  preacher,  which  ends  thus  :  "  The  man 
is  to  be  so  united  to  God,  so  occupied  and  possessed  by 
the  eternal  life,  that  his  acts  and  words  shall  be  outgoings 
of  a  divine  power.  And  exactly  this  Paul  himself  de- 
clares, when  he  says,  '  And  my  speech  and  my  preaching 
was  not  with  persuasive  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in 
demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power,'  And  this  is 
the  proper,  the  truly  sublime  conception  of  the  minister 
of  God.  He  is  not  a  mere  preacher  occupying  some  pul- 
pit, as  a  stand  of  natural  eloquence,  but  he  is  a  man 
whose  nature  is  possessed  of  God  in  such  a  manner  that 
the  light  of  God  is  seen  in  him  ;  a  man  whose  life  and 
words  are  apodictic — a  demonstration  of  the  Spirit." 
These  words  fairly  carry  out  what  we  conceive  to  be  a 
true  rhetorical  principle,  not,  indeed,  as  regards  common 
speakers,  but  the  Christian  preacher,  viz.,  "  that  the 
preacher  of  Christ  should  be  filled  with  the  truth  and  spirit 
of  Christ — should  speak  "  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit 
and  of  power. "  And  as  the  highest  eloquence  is  that 
which  affects  the  will,  which  is  powerful  to  move  and 
change  the  will,  and  to  cause  the  man  to  do  what  he 
hears — surely  that  eloquence  which  allies  itself  with  and 
works  with  the  will-renewing  energy  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  the  true  eloquence  of  the  preacher. 

We  end  this  discussion  upon  the  idea  and  definition  of 
rhetoric  by  saying  that,  although  rhetoric  must  still  be 
considered  mainly  as  an  art,  or  that  it  has  to  do  with  the 
form  m.ore  than  with  the  substance  of  speech,  yet  it  is 
itself  in  harmony  with  and  founded  upon  truth,  and  de- 
rives its  power  from  the  great  laws  and  impulses  of  man's 
moral  nature  ;  it  is  a  free,  not  a  mechanical   art.     And 


546  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

this  is  especially  true  in  the  case  of  the  preacher  ;  every 
increase  in  holiness  is  an  increase  in  power  ;  and  the  prin- 
ciple in  his  case  may  be  carried  still  higher,  and  the  asser- 
tion may  be  made  that  no  man  can  be  a  genuine  preacher 
of  God's  word  who  is  not  in  some  sense  inspired  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.     As  to   the  question  some- 

Rhetonc  times   asked,   Is    not    rhetoric,    after    all,  a 
something  ,  ,    ,  i  -n        i  •   i    •       r 

^,  merely  mental  power  or  skill,  which  is  after- 
more  than  •'  . 

mere  skill,  ward  deepened  by  the  judgment  of  the  moral 
sense,  or  the  acceptance  by  the  moral  sense 
of  the  purely  intellectual  conclusions  of  the  mind  ?  That 
may  be  true  in  the  technical  idea  of  rhetoric,  but  in  the 
deeper  view  of  it  which  we  have  endeavored  to  bring  out, 
we  would  answer,  no  ;  for  unless  the  whole  being  enters 
into  and  goes  to  make  up  the  orator,  his  moral  as  well  as 
intellectual  powers,  his  spirit  as  well  as  understanding, 
he  cannot  arrive  at  genuine  convictions  of  truth  ;  these 
convictions  would  not  be  truly  his  own,  and  thus  they 
would  not  carry  the  weight  with  them  of  personal  convic- 
tions. Eloquence  is  the  breath  and  force  of  the  man's 
personality.  It  is  the  whole  being  of  a  man  speaking. 
Cicero  said  that  "  one  might  simulate  philosophy,  but 
not  eloquence."  Eloquence  is  something  more  than 
mere  art  ;  it  lies  in  the  depths  of  moral  character. 
"  U e'loqtieficc  est  en  elle-meme  iin  trait  du  caracthe  plutot 
quun  don  intellectuel."  ' 

Sec.   23.    Uses  and  Sources  of  Rhetoric. 

Notwithstanding  the  noble  utility  of  the  rhetorical  art 
rightly  understood,  there  are  popular  objections  to  the 
preacher's  study  of  rhetoric,  which  it  is  worth  while  to 
consider.     These  objections  may  be  comprised  in  some 


'  Vinet's  "  Histoire  de  la  Predication  des  Reformes,"  p.  673. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  547 

general  statement  like  this  :  The  rules  of  rhetoric  neces- 
sarily contain  that  which   is  wholly  human 

and  artificial,  and  they  thus  render  the  study  ^    }y^  '°"^ 

to  the  study 
of  rhetoric  unworthy  of  the  simplicity  of  the    ^^  rhetoric. 

preacher  of  divine  truth,  who  depends  on 
the  truth  itself,  and  on  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  the  true  re- 
sults of  preaching. 

Even  the  true  orator,  it  is  said,  is  one  who  trusts  more 
to  nature  than  to  art,  and  who  has  the  least  of  art  in  his 
eloquence  ;  and,  a  fortiori,  how  much  more  should  this 
be  the  case  with  the  preacher  of  divine  truth  ! 

In  one  sense  the  rules  of  rhetoric  are  artificial,  because 
they  concern  the  art  of  speaking  ;  but  they  are  not  arti- 
ficial in  the  common  sense  of  the  term,  as  meaning  what 
is  false.  True  rhetoric  is  drawn  from  truth  and  nature. 
It  is  the  discovery  of  the  genuine  laws  of  persuasive 
speech  among  living  men  ;  and  it  is  simply  reducing  these 
to  definite  principles.  It  is  the  study  of  the  best  ways 
which  nature  employs  to  communicate  and  impress  truth. 

Without  doubt  the  study  of  rhetoric  has  been  conduct- 
ed sometimes  upon  narrow  principles  and  in  too  critical  a 
spirit.  It  has  been  looked  upon  simply  as  an  art  of  speak- 
ing and  writing,  or  as  a  digest  of  rules.  It  has  been  treated 
negatively  rather  than  positively,  destructively  rather  than 
constructively.  It  has  been  dissociated  from  the  springs  of 
thought,  from  the  science  of  mind.  It  has  been  unintel- 
ligently  separated  from  logic,  metaphysics,  and  those  sci- 
ences that  have  to  do  with  the  laws  of  thought,  as  well 
as  from  ethical  sciences.  If  rhetoric  is  form,  it  is  the 
form  of  the  mind  ;  if  it  is  expression,  it  is  the  expression 
of  thought  ;  and  we  cannot  rightly  separate  the  effect 
from  its  cause,  the  result  from  its  source,  without  render- 
ing the  treatment  of  the  whole  subject  shallow  and 
mechanical,    and    without    losing   sight    of   the    deepest 


548  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

springs  of  eloquence.  Rhetoric  is  a  genuine  art,  full  of 
help  to  the  speaker,  and  of  suggestiv^e  power,  if  but  looked 
upon  in  its  right  relations  ;  if  viewed  in  the  broader  light 
of  what  is  a  true  art,  and  of  what  true  art,  universally 
speaking,  signifies. 

The  study  of  rhetoric  should  lead  to  the  enriching  of 
the  inventive  faculty,  which  lies  at  the  source  of  style, 
and  should  not  be  taken  up  exclusively  in  formal  detail 
and  grammatical  minutiae.  Rhetoric  is  useful,  it  is  true, 
in  merely  regulating  the  form  and  method  of  discourse, 
but  if  it  does  nothing  else,  if  it  has  no  stimulating  and 
developing  influence  upon  the  faculty  of  discourse  itself, 
its  value  is  diminished. 

But  it  is  sometimes  said.  Why  not  leave  rhetoric  to 
nature  ?  This  man  and  that  man  are  self-taught  orators, 
who  never  studied  a  volume  on  eloquence.  The  more 
rules,  the  less  eloquence.  It  is  true  there  are  men  of 
native  eloquence  who  have  not  studied  the  art  in  books  ; 
but  they  have  studied  it  in  men,  in  nature,  in  them- 
selves. This  has  been  the  case  with  many  distinguished 
Methodist  preachers  ;  they  have  been  keen  students  of 
the  most  effective  use  of  motives  and  arguments,  and 
even  of  gestures  and  tones,  upon  the  passions.  There 
is  nothing  artificial  about  that.  That  is  nature's  way  ; 
that  is  really  seeking  the  truth  and  the  true  power 
of  eloquent  speech.  It  is  true  that  the  art  of  rhetoric 
will  not  make  an  ineloquent  man  eloquent  ;  this  is 
not  the  teacher's  work,  and  is  beyond  his  ability.  Rhe- 
toric will,  however,  make  an  effective  speaker  more 
effective,  and  will  enable  any  man  of  good  abilities  to 
become  a  good  writer  and  speaker.  "  If  you  suppose 
either  to  be  independent  of  the  other,  nature  will  be 
able  to  do  much  without  learning,  but  learning  will  be 
of  no  avail  without  the  assistance  of  nature.     But  if  they 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  549 

be  united  in  equal  points,  I  shall  be  inclined  to  think 
that,  when  both  are  but  moderate,  the  influence  of  nature 
is  nevertheless  the  greater  ;  but  finished  orators,  I  con- 
sider, owe  more  to  learning  than  to  nature."  ' 

Rhetoric,  as  we  have  said,  ought  not  to  be  separated 
from  thought,  from  the  creative  faculty,  since  it  is  then 
cut  off  from  its  highest  spring  ;  but  supposing  it  to  be 
true  that  rhetoric  will  not  furnish  a  man  with  thoughts, 
yet  it  will  teach  a  man  how  to  use  his  thoughts  ;  and  a 
mind  that  will  be  killed  by  good  rules  of  speaking  and 
writing  cannot  be  a  strong  mind,  and  such  a  mind  would 
be  made  pedantic  by  any  kind  of  knowledge. 

It  is  barely  possible  that  rhetorical  studies  may  some- 
what repress  natural  freedom,  and  there  may  be  a  sense 
of  art  or  artificiality  produced  ;  but  this  must  soon  wear 
off  when  the  study  is  rightly  conducted,  and  when  a  man 
is  resolved  by  every  means  to  make  himself  an  effective 
speaker.  He  will  go  through  art  into  nature,  and  be  all 
the  stronger. 

And  what,  truly,  should  there  be  in  this  study,  rightly 
conducted,  to  injure  the  simplicity  of  the  preacher  ? 
This  term  "  simplicity,"  as  used  in  the  New  Testament, 
signifies  "  freedom  from  guile,"  and  "  singleness  of  heart 
and  purpose,"  or,  in  a  wider  sense,  "the  unpervert- 
ed  teaching  of  the  gospel,"  rather  than  intellectual 
simplicity  or  barrenness.  The  preacher's  rhetorical 
study  is  to  aid  him  to  give  the  truth  its  true  force,  to 
clear  it  of  what  is  false,  and  to  present  it  in  its  real 
simplicity  and  strength  to  the  mind.  "  The  foolishness 
of  preaching"  is  not  "  foolish  preaching,"  but  what  was 
esteemed  foolish  by  the  Greeks  in  opposition  to  their 
"wisdom,"   viz.,  "the  preaching  of  the  cross. "     It  was 


'  Quintilian's  "  Institutes,"  B.  ii.  c.  xix. 


55°  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

not  the  preaching,  but  the  subject  of  the  preaching,  that 
was  foolish. 

But,  it  may  be  said,  if  the  preacher  uses  the  aids  of 
rhetoric,  and  strives  to  make  himself  an  eloquent  speaker, 
does  he  not  put  himself  on  the  same  level  with  the  plat- 
form-speaker ?  The  difference  between  the  pulpit  and 
platform  is  deeper  than  a  mere  rhetorical  difference  ;  for 
the  preacher  may  use  all  the  art  and  skill  that  the  plat- 
form-speaker does,  and  still  be  a  preacher  and  not  a  plat- 
form-orator. The  great  difference  between  the  two  is, 
that  the  eloquence  of  the  platform-speaker  ends  in  itself  : 
he  has  shown  his  power,  or  he  has  gained  his  point  ;  but 
the  eloquence  of  the  preacher  ends  in  the  good  and  sal- 
vation of  his  hearers  ;  it  is  no  merely  personal  or  tempo- 
rary object.  The  platform-speaker  strives  for  the  present 
mastery,  amusement,  instruction,  or  conviction  of  his 
hearers,  and  human  powers  and  eloquence  are  sufficient 
for  the  production  of  that  effect  ;  but  the  aim  of  the 
true  preacher  is  something  out  of  himself,  something 
enduring  and  eternal,  something  permanent  in  its  effect 
upon  the  character  of  the  soul.  He  needs  more  than  his 
own  powers  for  this  ;  he  needs  something  more  than 
human  eloquence. 

But  if  the  preacher  needs  more  than  human  eloquence, 
he  still  may  not  despise  anything-  that  will  make  him 
effective  as  a  preacher.  Nathan's  preaching  to  David 
was  a  piece  of  pure  rhetoric.  It  was  the  polished  arrow 
that  slew  the  king's  sin  and  saved  his  soul  from  its 
deadly  coil.  Paul's  use  of  the  illustration  of  the 
Athenian  altar  was  a,  skillful  use  of  the  law  of  adaptation 
in  rhetoric  ;  and  did  it  injure  the  moral  simplicity  of  his 
speaking  ?  Apollos  was,  undoubtedly,  well  trained  in  the 
rhetorical  schools  of  Alexandria.  "  In  some  respects 
Apollos  was   distinguished  from  the  other    disciples  of 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  551 

John  the  Baptist.  There  is  much  significance  in  the  fact 
that  is  stated  that  he  was  'born  at  Alexandria.'  He 
was  not  only  an  Alexandrian  Jew  by  birth,  but  he  had  a 
high  reputation  for  an  eloquent  {Xoyioi  'eloquent' 
rather  than  learned)  and  forcible  power  of  speaking,  and 
had  probably  been  well  trained  in  the  rhetorical  schools 
on  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  But  though  he  was  endued 
with  the  eloquence  of  a  Greek  orator,  the  subjects  of  his 
study  and  teaching  were  the  Scriptures  of  his  forefathers. 
The  character  which  he  had  borne  in  the  synagogues 
was  that  of  a  man  'mighty  in  the  Scriptures.'  In  ad- 
dition to  these  advantages  of  birth  and  education,  he 
seems  to  have  had  the  fullest  and  most  systematic  in- 
struction in  the  gospel  which  a  disciple  of  John  could 
possibly  receive.  Whether  from  the  Baptist  himself,  or 
from  some  of  those  who  travelled  into  other  lands  with 
his  teaching  as  their  possession,  Apollos  had  received  full 
and  accurate  instruction  '  in  the  way  of  the  Lord.'  We 
are  further  told  that  his  character  M'as  marked  by  a  fer- 
vent zeal  in  spreading  the  truth.  Thus  we  may  conceive 
of  him  as  travelling,  like  a  second  Baptist,  beyond  the 
frontiers  of  Judaea,  expounding  the  prophecies  of  the  Old 
Testament,  announcing  that  the  times  of  the  Messiah 
were  come,  and  calling  the  Jews  to  repentance  in  the 
spirit  of  Elias.  Hence  he  was,  like  his  great  teacher, 
'  preparing  the  way  of  the  Lord. '  Though  ignorant  of 
the  momentous  facts  which  had  succeeded  the  Resurrec- 
tion and  Ascension,  he  was  turning  the  '  hearts  of  the 
disobedient  to  the  wisdom  of  the  just,'  and  '  making 
ready  a  people  for  the  Lord,'  whom  he  was  soon  to 
know  'more  perfectly.'  Thus,  burning  with  zeal  and 
confidence  by  the  truth  of  what  he  had  learned,  he  spoke 
out  boldly  in  the  synagogue."  ' 

'  Conybeare  and  Howson's  "  Life  of  St.  Paul,"  v.  ii.  p.  6. 


552  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

Was  the  rhetorical  education  or  the  "  eloquence"  of 
Apollos,  we  ask,  of  no  influence  upon  the  early  progress 
of  the  gospel  in  the  earth,  or  at  least  in  its  preparation  to 
come  in  power  to  the  nations  ? 

Upham,  in  his  volume  on  "The  Interior  Life,"  has 
some  interesting  remarks  upon  the  proofs  that  our  blessed 
Saviour  himself  valued  mental  culture,  and  that  in  his 
human  nature  he  prepared  himself  for  the  work  of  his 
ministry  by  thought  and  study  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures." 

Rhetorical  studies,  it  cannot  be  denied,  are  useful  to 
the  preacher  in  so  far  as  preaching  is  an  art.  The  art  of 
oratory  has  always  been  cultivated  in  the  Church,  as  we 
have  seen  that  Augustine  wrote  a  treatise  on  "  Sacred 
Rhetoric."  Melanchthon  also  composed  a  treatise  upon 
the  oratorical  art,  as  applied  to  preaching,  advocating  the 
use  of  learning  and  the  cultivation  of  eloquence  by  the 
preacher.  The  age  of  the  Reformation,  as  has  been 
already  said,  was  a  period  of  marked  eloquence  in  the 
pulpit. 

In  regard  to  the  most  important  bearing  of  the  objec- 
tion in  regard  to  the  converting  power  of  divine  truth 
accompanied  by  the   Holy  Spirit,   as  being 

Objection     essential,  and  as  being  sometimes  lost  sight 

to  rhetoric    ^f  when  eloquence  is  too  much  esteemed — 

.  this  certainly  does  apply  in  full  force  to  all 

Holy  Spirit's  f^ls<^  ideas  of  preaching,  where  the  human 

influence,  element  is  made  prominent,  and  the  divine 
element  is  made  subordinate,  or  is  disregard- 
ed ;  and  yet  the  fact  of  the  converting  power  of  divine 
truth,  or  that  all  renewing  power  is  in  God  alone,  does 
not  do  away  with  the  value  of  human  preaching.  "  I 
have  planted,  Apollos  watered  ;    but   God   gave  the  in- 

'  "  Interior  Life,"  p.  243. 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  553 

crease."  The  real  power — the  ultimate  power — is  in  the 
divine  causation,  and  yet  the  human  instrumentality  is 
not  excluded.  It  is  true  that  if  God  does  not  aid  the 
preacher,  his  best  efforts  are  vain  ;  and  if  God  also  does 
not  animate  and  fill  with  his  Spirit  the  organization  of 
the  Church,  the  Church  is  a  useless  body  ;  yet  this  is  not 
saying  that  the  preacher  and  the  Church  are  not  needed, 
and  that  these  agencies  may  not,  and  should  not,  put 
forth  all  the  effort,  talent,  and  power  they  possess,  rely- 
ing on  divine  aid.  If  one  should  carry  the  objection  to 
an  unreasonable  extent,  then  human  agency  in  the  con- 
version of  men  would  be  excluded,  and  all  means  em- 
ployed for  men's  salvation — prayer  as  well  as  preaching 
— would  be  vain.  This  has  been  the  theory  of  some  who 
have  pushed  their  views  to  an  extravagant  pitch.  In  the 
New  England  theological  controversy  on  "  the  means  of 
grace,"  half  a  century  since,  it  was  asserted  on  the  one 
side  that  the  text  ""  Consider  thy  ways"  was  addressed  to 
every  man  as  a  rational  and  moral  being,  who  must  think 
upon  his  duty  before  he  did  it  ;  on  the  other  side  it  was 
regarded  as  a  thing  impossible,  or,  at  least,  inadmissible, 
for  an  impenitent  sinner  to  consider  his  ways,  because  his 
thoughts  would  be  depraved,  and  only  depraved  continu- 
ally, and  no  benefit,  but  only  evil,  would  come  of  it. 
But  human  effort  in  the  line  of  truth  and  duty,  and  for 
the  furtherance  and  proclamation  of  the  truth,  is  clearly 
set  forth  in  the  Scriptures.  Not  only  did  the  apostles 
preach,  but  the  seventy,  and  others  who  were  not  en- 
dowed with  miraculous  gifts  ;  and  all  believers  are  to 
preach,  in  one  sense.  If  we  object  to  preaching,  we  might 
object  to  all  other  kinds  of  influence  exerted  to  promote 
religion,  and  diffuse  truth  among  man.  But  if  we  admit 
preaching,  it  should  be  the  best — the  best  that  our  human 
powers,  aided   by  culture   and   divine  grace,  and    intent 


\ 


554  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

upon  the  building  up  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  world, 
can  produce.  The  simplicity  of  truth,  and  its  converting 
power,  are  destroyed,  not  by  its  running  through  the 
human  medium,  but  by  its  deliberate  falsification  for 
selfish  and  earthly  ends.  As  one  is  not  defiled  by  eating 
with  unwashen  hands,  but  is  defiled  by  having  an  unclean 
heart,  so  the  truth  is  not  corrupted  by  being  taken  into 
sinful  human  hands,  and  thus  dispensed  ;  but  it  is  cor- 
rupted by  passing  through  an  unbelieving  and  false  mind. 
And  the  simplicity  of  the  truth  may  be  also  injured  by 
the  preacher's  trusting  to  his  own  eloquence  to  produce 
conviction,  and  not  to  the  Word  and  Spirit  of  God.  But 
no  true  preacher  does  this  ;  for  he  considers  the  gift  of 
God  to  be  intrusted  to  an  earthen  vessel  "  that  the  excel- 
lency of  the  power  may  be  of  God,  and  not  of  us."  He 
trusts  wholly  to  the  divine  Spirit. 

What,  then,  to  the  preacher  of  divine  truth,  are  some 
of  the  legitimate  uses  of  rhetoric  ? 

I.   It  cultivates  and  develops  the  power  of  discourse. 

We  have  already  defined  what  true  discourse  is  ;  even  if 

rhetoric    be    essentially  a   science  of    form, 

^^^  °        and  do  not  itself  produce  or  have  regard  to 
rhetoric  to  -   ,      r  i  i-       ,-  •     • 

oreachers      ^        materials  for  public  discourse,  yet  it  is 

directly  connected  with  the  laws  of  thought, 
and  if  it  be  but  an  instrument  of  discourse,  it  is  at  the  same 
time  the  instrument  of  a  discoursing  mind  ;  for  discourse 
is  the  perfect  development  of  an  idea  of  some  intuitive 
truth,  or  of  some  truth  of  which  the  mind  has  possessed  it- 
self. Now  rhetoric — which  is  the  art  of  embodying  ideas  in 
language  for  the  purpose  of  persuasion — is  the  exercise  of 
that  original  power  of  discourse  with  which  man  is  gifted. 
And  can  it  be  said  that  the  cultivation  of  the  art  of 
rhetoric  has  no  influence  to  cultivate  the  original  power  ? 
It  must  have  a  great  influence  in  this  respect.     It  tends 


GEA'ERAL    PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  555 

to  increase  the  creative  power  of  the  mind.  There  is  no 
exercise  better  fitted  to  develop  the  productive  powers 
than  public  speaking,  if  of  the  right  sort.  It  draws  from 
the  deepest  sources.  It  concentrates  the  mental  powers  ; 
it  forces  thought  ;  it  cultivates  the  faculty  of  expression  ; 
it  clears  and  enlarges  the  spring  of  thoughtful  discourse, 
and  makes  it  more  abounding. 

2.  It  gives  accuracy  to  logical  processes. 

Rhetoric  aids  one  to  become  master  of  his  mind 
and  of  his  mental  resources  ;  to  regulate  his  processes 
of  thought  ;  to  start  them  readily  from  certain  fixed 
centres,  and  to  follow  them  along  certain  defined  lines. 
The  mind  is  not  only  invigorated  by  the  study  of  rhetoric 
and  logic,  but  it  acquires  thereby  a  finer  edge.  A 
trained  rhetorician  who  is  also  a  logician  (for  the  two 
should  go  together)  will  not  be  apt  to  lay  hold  of  the 
wrong  end  or  the  tough  end  of  a  question  first,  but  he 
Avill  advance  upon  it  with  an  increasing  force  and  impetus 
that  carry  him  through  its  difificulties.  A  proper  arrange- 
ment and  method  in  thinking  aids  one  to  think.  No  ex- 
tent of  knowledge  or  brilliancy  of  imagination  can  make 
up  for  inaccurate  habits  of  thought.  In  order  to  write  or 
speak  well,  one  must  first  think  well.  He  must  know 
how  to  analyze,  to  resolve  a  subject  into  its  parts,  to 
search  its  depths.  The  preacher  should  have  depth  as 
well  as  breadth.  He  should  aim  first  at  true  thinkinp-. 
and  then  he  will  come  to  original  thinking  ;  for  rhetoric, 
while  it  regulates  thought,  does  not  repress  originality, 

3.  It  opens  the  power  of  language. 

The  use  of  language  is  a  fit  study  for  the  preacher, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  interpret  the  meaning  and  force  of  the 
words  chosen  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  communicate  truth. 
"  The  Preacher  sought  to  find  out  acceptable  words." 
Language  is  thought's  instrument.      By  it  we  not  only 


55 6  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

communicate  light,  but  life,  to  other  minds.  Through 
language,  soul  acts  on  soul.  A  preacher  should  under- 
stand the  hidden  powers  of  language  ;  and  here,  perhaps, 
is  one  of  the  failures  of  the  modern  pulpit.  The  old 
preachers,  especially  the  old  English  divines,  were  men 
of  vast  learning,  who  knew  and  felt  the  force  of  language  ; 
as  also  did  such  preachers  as  Bunyan  and  Flavel,  who  were 
not  scholars,  yet  had  attained  to  extraordinary  vigor  and 
purity  of  idiomatic  English.  The  sermons  of  Bishop 
Andrews,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
are  wonderful  for  their  nervous  Saxon  English. 

Rhetoric  comprises  the  whole  field  of  linguistic  and 
literary  criticism — the  rich  field  of  language,  of  the 
mighty  power  of  words  as  the  instrument  of  thought  ; 
and  the  most  skillful  and  powerful  use  of  language  can 
be  acquired  only  through  the  study  of  this  wide  and 
varied  field. 

4.  It  increases  the  power  of  persuasion  or  the  ability 
of  the  speaker  to  carry  conviction  to  other  minds. 

Whately  makes  a  just  observation  when  he  says  that 
true  rhetoric  is  not  "  an  art  of  producing  conviction,  but 
it  is  the  art  of  doing  so."  It  is  finding  out,  not  the  best, 
but  the  only  way  by  which  conviction  must  be  produced. 
It  is,  in.  Whately 's  language,  "  investigating  the  causes 
of  the  success  of  all  who  do  produce  conviction  in  writ- 
ing and  speaking."  ' 

5.  It  prevents  the  waste  of  mental  energy. 

Many  preachers,  though  fertile  in  thought,  are  troubled 
in  arranging  their  materials.  They  are  apt  to  ^o  over 
too  much  ground.  Their  ideas  are  not  sufficiently  com- 
pacted ;  they  are  ineffectively  marshalled,  making  a  mob 
and  not  an  army.     Their  sermons  often  are  theological 


'  Whately 's  "  Rhetoric,"  sec.  4. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  557 

treatises,  small  books.  They  waste  their  mental  store, 
and  do  not  get  a  due  return  for  their  outlay.  Rhet- 
oric teaches  us  how  to  husband  our  resources  ;  how  to 
methodize  and  condense  ;  how  to  make  the  most  of  what 
we  have  ;  how  to  say  enough  upon  a  subject,  and  to  say 
it  forcibly. 

6.  It  prevents  the  preacher's  usefulness  from  being 
destroyed  by  little  things. 

Preachers  of  genuine  zeal  and  good  abilities  are  often 
hindered  in  their  usefulness  by  some  insignificant  thing, 
of  which  the  simplest  rhetorical  culture  would  make  them 
aware.  Inaptness  or  inversion  of  style,  a  grotesque  or 
awkward  delivery,  an  unfortunate  gesture,  a  nasal  twang, 
a  dryness  or  dulness  in  the  treatment  of  vital  themes — 
some  little  thing,  which  could  be  remedied,  will  keep  a 
good  and  perhaps  able  man  tied  like  a  slave  to  the  wheel 
all  his  life. 

Let  us  now  consider  some  of  the  sources  of  rhetoric. 
They  are  threefold  :  Nature,  Good  Models,  and  Books. 

(i.)  Nature.    The  preacher  may  learn  from 

a  child  the  first  principles  of  the  laws  of  rheto-       °"'""s  o 
^  ^  ,  rhetoric : 

ric,  e.g.,  the  essential  principle  of  directness.       Nature. 

A  little  child,  in  making  his  wants  known, 
and  in  carrying  his  point,  will  use  the  most  direct  method. 
He  will  express  his  wish  in  the  fewest  words.  He  will 
employ  the  strongest  argument  or  motive  which  he  is 
capable  of  employing,  and  which  (how  often  it  happens  !) 
is  strong  enough  to  carry  his  point.  Where  there  is  a 
pressure  on  the  mind  of  the  humblest  and  rudest  person, 
there  is  often  a  vivid  force  in  his  way  of  expressing  him- 
self, which  is  eloquent.  A  poor  woman  who  has  five 
minutes  allowed  her  at  your  door  will  make  her  case  stand 
in  the  strongest  light  ;  for  she  will  say  nothing  unessen- 
tial,   or  will  leave  nothing   essential    unsaid  ;    she    will 


55^  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

arrange  her  story  (her  oration)  in  a  way  fitted  to  produce 
instant  conviction,  arouse  pity,  and  gain  her  end. 

Nature  is  to  be  studied  in  common  men.  The  words 
and  arguments  of  men  engaged  in  the  common  business 
of  Hfe,  if  they  have  less  abstruse  depth,  have  often  more 
practical  weight  and  point  than  those  of  the  most  highly 
educated  men,  in  whose  minds  the  varied  and  abstract 
relations  of  a  given  truth  habitually  present  themselves. 
The  expressions  of  such  men  have  a  rough,  powerful 
rhetoric.  General  Sheridan's  famous  speech  at  the  fight 
of  Winchester  was  a  thousand  times  more  effective  than 
all  the  fine-turned  sentences  that  were  ever  elaborated. 
President  Lincoln's  address  at  Gettysburg  is  a  noble  ex- 
ample of  the  eloquent  condensation  of  thought  and  senti- 
ment there  may  be  in  brief  and  simple  language.  The 
man  who  is  always  living  in  books,  and  upon  dead  men's 
thoughts,  should  strive  to  catch  something  of  this  homely, 
vivid  force  of  living  men's  every-day  words  and  ideas. 
Above  all,  he  should  study  his  own  nature,  as  a  source  of 
rhetorical  knowledge  and  power.  He  should  carefully 
watch  his  own  mind,  and  observe  how  he  is  affected 
by  the  arguments  of  others,  and  by  what  kind  of  argu- 
ments ;  what  are  the  motives  which  move  him  most 
deeply  and  reach  him  most  quickly  ;  what  forms  of  ex- 
pression are  most  striking,  and  what  most  pathetic  ;  he 
should  ask  himself  how,  when,  and  why  he  is  most  moved 
by  the  speaking  of  others,  and  what  kind  of  speakers 
most  move  him. 

(2.)  Good   models.     Living  models  are   best,  because 

they  come  nearest  to  nature.     Some  preachers  frequent 

the  courts  to  study  the  most  direct  modes 
Good  ,  ^      .  ,     .      , 

.  J         of    persuasive    reasonmg  ;     yet    their    best 

models  are  preachers.      By  a  study  of  true 

models  we  tend  imperceptibly  to  grow  hke  them  ;  as,  if 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  559 

one  should  gaze  half  an  hour  every  day  upon,  the  Apollo 
Belvedere,  he  would  show  it  in  the  carriage  of  his  head, 
and  the  new  dignity  which  would  be  breathed  into  his 
whole  mien.  But  in  studying  models,  it  is  only  the  gen- 
eral result  that  should  be  aimed  at,  and  not  the  minute, 
literal  copy.  "  Turpe  ctiani  illud  est,  contcntum  esse  id 
conseqiii  quod  iiniteris."  '  Every  one  should  jealously 
guard  his  individuality,  and  should  diligently  strive  to 
retain  his  natural  style,  that  good  thing,  that  native  force 
or  facility  which  belongs  to  him,  only  corrected  of  its 
faults,  and  enriched  by  good  examples.  No  orator  or 
preacher,  let  him  be  the  greatest,  is  indeed  a  perfect 
model  for  our  imitation,  or  combines  in  himself  all  excel- 
lences ;  neither  is  any  great  orator  or  speaker,  as  Quin- 
tilian  has  truly  said,  imitable  in  those  things — his  genius, 
invention,  force,  facility — which  especially  make  him 
great  ;  for  those  things  are  inborn,  individual,  spiritual, 
and  escape  the  power  of  all  imitation. 

One  should  not  only  read  the  sermons  of  the  best 
preachers,  but  study  them,  analyze  them,  sentence  by 
sentence  and  word  by  word  ;  searching  patiently,  labo- 
riously, determinedly,  to  come  at  their  sources  of  power. 
It  is  a  good  plan  to  take  a  condensed  writer  like  Bishop 
Butler,  and,  after  reading  a  page  two  or  three  times,  to 
rewrite  it  in  our  own  language,  and  carefully  note  the 
differences  in  the  two  modes  of  expressing  the  same  ideas. 
Thus  we  should  experiment  and  experiment,  till  we  catch 
something  of  the  condensed  energy  of  one,  the  perspicuity 
of  another,  the  fire  of  another.  And,  not  confining  our- 
selves to  the  study  of  the  best  writers  and  speakers  in 
our  own  profession,  we  may  extend  our  critical  reading 
to  the   historian,  the  poet,  the  orators  of  antiquity,  and 


Quintilian's  "Instit.,"  B.  x.  c.  ii.  s.  i,  "  De  Imitatione." 


560  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING^ 

to  all  the  fields  of  literature.  The  study  of  Shakespeare 
A'  is  a  spring  of  endlessly  fruitful  suggestion  in  the  art  of 
composition.  A  young  preacher  might  always  have  on 
hand  some  author,  and  especially  religious  author,  of  the 
first  excellence,  not  only  as  regards  matter,  but  style  ; 
for  the  formation  of  a  clear,  forcible  style  is  a  severe  pro- 
cess ;  and  as  no  man  can  learn  to  paint  without  a  con- 
tinual use  of  the  brush,  so  no  man  can  learn  to  write  and 
speak  well  without  a  continual  use  of  the  pen. 

(3.)  Books.      We  have  anticipated  this  source  of  rheto- 
rical instruction  and  suggestion  under  the  last  head  ;  but 

we    refer   now    more    particularly  to    books 
Books.  .    ,  •        -NT 

upon  the  special  art  of  rhetoric.   No  treatise 

upon  rhetoric,  ancient  or  modern,  exceeds  in  complete- 
ness or  in  value  Quintilian's  "  Institutions."  Even  now, 
as  in  Martial's  line,  it  may  be  justly  said  :  "  Quintiliane 
vagCB  moderator  sermone  JuventcB."  His  great  work  in 
twelve  books  is  built  upon  a  most  comprehensive  plan, 
embracing  the  preliminary  training  and  education  of  the 
orator  ;  the  nature  or  substance  of  the  rhetorical  art  ;  in- 
vention and  arrangement  ;  composition  and  delivery  ; 
those  philosophical  and  ethical  principles  to  which  oratory 
is  related  ;  the  character  of  the  orator  ;  and  the  collateral 
studies  and  arts  to  be  pursued  for  a  thorough  training  of 
the  perfect  orator.  All  are  treated  with  great  fulness, 
energy,  and  elegance  of  language  ;  and,  as  has  been  re- 
marked, modern  works  have  added  but  little  to  what 
Quintilian  and  other  classic  writers  have  given  us  upon 
this  art  ;  for  though  in  science  we  excel  the  ancients,  in 
art  they  remain  our  masters  and  teachers.  In  addi- 
tion to  works  on  homiletics  in  various  languages,  there 
are  especially  the  sermons  of  great  preachers, 
both  of  modern  and  ancient  times,  which 
represent  the  different  types  and  epochs  of  preaching,  in 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  561 

various  languages,  and  which  form  in  themselves  an  ample 
field  of  homiletical  literature  and  study. 

Whatever  there  is  in  philosophy  and  literature  which 
has  to  do  with  the  orator's  power  may  be  studied  to  ad- 
vantage ;  but  above  all,  let  the  young  preacher  strive  to 
gain  a  thorough  homiletical  training,  not  trusting  entirely 
to  books  or  to  the  teacher,  but  availing  himself  of  every 
suggestion,  from  every  source,  to  improve  himself  in  the 
art  of  preaching.  And,  after  all,  the  greatest  source  of 
rhetorical  power  and  rhetorical  training  is  speaking. 
Practice  in  preaching  is  the  best  way  to  make  the  good 
preacher.  He  who  would  hit  the  mark  must  shoot  at 
the  mark.  He  who  would  move  men  by  preaching 
must  preach  so  as  to  move  them.  He  who  would  over- 
come the  difficulties  of  preaching  must  meet  them  in  the 
presence  of  living  men,  in  the  act  of  speaking,  on  the 
field  where  difficulties  present  themselves.  Brains,  too, 
are  as  useful  now  as  ever  in  preaching,  and  must  be 
"  mixed  in,"  as  the  painter  said,  with  the  work  ;  and  so 
are  heart,  and  love,  and  faith,  essential  ;  and  no  rhetoric 
can  take  the  place  of  the  persuasion  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
that  "  oratory  of  God,"  which,  as  old  Fuller  says,  "  alone 
convinces  souls." 

Sec.   24.    Uses  of  Reasoning  to  the  Preacher. 

So  far  as  reasoning  comes  under  the  department  of 
Rhetoric  (and  Whately,  we  have  seen,  makes  rhetoric  to 
consist  mainly  of  the  art  of  reasoning,  or  to  be  identical 
with  it)  ;  and  inasmuch  as  logic,  in  the  present  enlarged  con- 
ception of  the  term,  is  held  to  be  the  science  of  the  laws 
of  thought,  and  includes  in  it  all  the  forms  and  methods 
of  thinking,  the  true  idea  of  our  mental  conceptions  and 
judgments,  and  the  principles  of  right  reasoning  ;  it  be- 
comes essential  to   the  preacher  to   consider   this,  or  at 


562  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

least  to  be  stimulated  to  the  careful  study  of  this  manly- 
science.  We  would  aim  only  to  indicate  the  importance 
of  this  study  to  the  preacher,  as  a  legitimate  source  of 
power. 

Coleridge's   definition    of    reason,    derived,  doubtless, 

from  Schelling  and  the  German  philosophy,  is  useful  and 

ennobling  to  the  preacher,  who  has  to  deal 

o  en  ges    y^\>^\-^    those    truths  which    are  apprehended 

definition  of     ,  ,       , 

^^00^^        through  the  exercise  of   the  highest   facul- 
reason.  =>  '^i 

ties  of  the  being.  *'  Reason  is  the  power 
by  which  we  are  enabled  to  draw  from  particular  and 
contingent  appearances  universal  and  necessary  conclu- 
sions." ' 

As  further  explained,  reason  is  the  prime  source  of 
necessary  and  universal  ideas — ideas  which  are  above  the 
changing  world  of  sense  ;  it  is,  in  fine,  the  faculty  that 
deals  with  pure  ideas,  and  it  appeals  to  itself  alone,  to  its 
own  intuitions  and  judgments,  as  the  substance  and 
ground  of  ideas.  It  is  thus,  according  to  Coleridge,  that 
faculty  in  man  which  rises  above  the  sphere  of  the  mere 
intellect  judging  by  sense,  or  the  logical  understanding, 
and  enables  him  to  arrive  at  absolute  truths.  Kant  and 
his  school  made  this  distinction  between  formal  logic  in 
the  sense  that  it  exhibits  only  the  laws  of  analytical  knowl- 
edge, or  which  treats  of  the  processes  of  thinking  apart 
from  real  knowledge  or  being,  and  the  criterion  of  the 
pure  reason  which  inquires  into  the  possibility  of  a  uni- 
versally valid  synthetic  knowledge — thus  drawing  a  dis- 
tinction between  analytic  and  synthetic  judgments.''  The 
liigher  reason  pierces  through  phenomena  or  things  as 
they  seem,  and  comes  to  know  things  as  they  are.     It  is 


'  Coleridge's  Works  (Shedd's  ed.),  v.  i.  p.  251,  et  at. 
^  Ueberweg's  "  Logic." 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  563 

able  to  arrive  at  the  realities  of  things,  and  the  very 
grounds  of  their  existence.  It  seeks  for  a  uniform  and 
unchangeable  basis  of  truth. 

Taking  care  not  to  let  this  transcendental  definition  of 
reason  usurp  the  place  of  that  higher  teaching  or  inward 
communication  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  which  alone  we  can 
spiritually,  and  thus  truly,  comprehend  divine  truth,  we 
do  indeed  perceive  that  there  is  in  man  a  higher  nature, 
that  transcends  the  mere  logical  intellect.  It  is  a  faculty 
which  judges  h priori,  which  is  capable  of  grasping  abso- 
lute ideas,  and  which,  to  a  certain  extent,  possesses  in- 
tuitive insight,  y^  In  the  world  of  faith,  and  in  the  discus- 
sion of  Christian  truth,  this  higher  exercise  of  the  reason 
is  important,  for  Christianity  is  a  rational  religion  ;  that 
is,  it  corresponds  to  those  universal  laws  and  principles 
of  truth  that  raise  themselves  above  change,  that  are 
common  to  rational  intelligences,  and  that  are  fixed  in 
the  constitution  of  things.//"  We  should  not  be  afraid  of 
reason — that  is,  of  this  higher  conception  of  reason — in 
the  things  of  faith.  If  reason  alone  cannot  arrive  at 
divine  truth,  or  truly  comprehend  it,  divine  truth,  never- 
theless, speaks  to  the  highest  reason  in  man,  and  lets 
itself  down,  as  far  as  it  can,  into  its  congenial  and  assim- 
ilated sphere.  And  as  "  the  word,"  o  \oyoz,  of  which  the 
preacher  is  the  servant  and  minister,  is,  above  all,  the 
divine  reason,  the  preacher  should  know  the  place  and 
functions  of  reason  ;  for  he  cannot  keep  divine  truth  con- 
fined in  the  arena  of  the  mere  understanding  ;  it  will 
burst  from  human  definitions  and  propositions  ;  it  will 
not  abide  the  test  of  mere  word-argument  ;  it  cannot  be 
discovered  by  the  syllogistic  method.  It  may  indeed  be 
methodized  and  systematized,  and  thus  more  easily  be 
grasped  by  the  logical  faculty  ;  but  it  belongs  rather  to 
the  sphere  of  more  purely  rational  ideas,  of  "  rationalized 


V 

r 


564  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

intellect,"  in  which,  through  the  power  of  holy  contem- 
plation, in  communion  with  the  mind  and  spirit  of  God, 
the  truth  is  clearly  known.  And  the  preacher  should 
endeavor  to  evoke  this  higher  faculty  of  reason  in  the 
hearer.  He  should  strive  to  show  that  there  is  no  real 
conflict  between  faith  and  reason,  but  that  the  truths  of 
faith,  which  belong  to  a  world  above  the  natural  and 
sensuous,  appeal  to  that  power  in  man  which  apprehends 
rational  and  universal  truths — truths  eternal  as  God's 
nature.  Such  reasoning,  therefore,  as  this,  which  calls 
into  exercise  the  highest  nature  of  man,  is  the  prerogative 
of  the  preacher  of  divine  truth.  This  is  his  noble  prov- 
ince, peculiar  to  him.  And  in  all  lower  kinds  of  reason- 
ing, as  it  is  commonly  understood,  in  which  the  formal 
or  logical  understanding  may  be  chiefly  employed,  the 
preacher  should  never  lose  sight  of  the  influence  and  the 
exercise  of  this  higher  power  of  the  reason. 

"  The  gospel  doth  not  destroy  reason  and  rational  pro- 
ceedings. It  is  agreeable  to  common  reason  that  old  prin- 
ciples should  be  exploded,  and  appear  unworthy,  base, 
unreasonable,  weak,  before  new  ones  be  entertained. 
The  working  of  the  Spirit  is  according  to  the  nature  of 
man,  moves  not  in  contradiction  to  it,  but  in  an  elevation 
of  reason  ;  he  explodes  principles  which  were  planted  in 
the  mind  before,  and  discovers  principles  which  reason 
cannot  disown,  though  it  did  not  before  apprehend  ;  he 
doth  not  extinguish  reason,  the  candle  of  the  Lord,  but 
snuffs  it  and  adds  more  light,  reduces  it  to  its  proper  man- 
ner of  operation,  and  sets  it  in  its  right  state  toward  God  ; 
brings  fresh  light  into  the  understanding  and  new  motions 
into  the  will.  He  doth  not  dethrone  reason  and  judg- 
ment, but  applies  it  to  its  proper  work,  repairs  it,  sets  it 
in  its  true  motion  ;  as  mending  a  watch  is  not  to  destroy 
it,  but  rectify  that  which  is  out  of  order,  and  restore  it  to 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  565 

its  true  end.     Religion  is  not  the   destruction   but    the 

restoration  of  reason.     The  arguments  the  Spirit  useth 

are   suited   to  the  reason   of  men,  otherwise   conscience 

could  not  be  moved,  for  conscience  follows  judgment  ;  it 

is  not  one  act  of  judgment,  but  imagination,  that  reason 

doth    not    precede.     As   the   service   God   requires    is   a 

rational  service,  so  the  method  he  uses  in  conversion  is  a 

rational  method."  ' 

We  would  now  say  a  fev/  words  upon  some  of  the  uses 

of  reasoning  to  the  preacher,  regarding  reasoning  here  in 

the    ordinary    sense    of    the    term,    as    the 

method    of    persuasion    by    proof,   or    argu-       Uses  of 

ment.      Of  these  uses  in  cultivating  the  rea- 

°  to  the 

soning  faculties,  the  first   we  would  mention      preacher, 
is — 

(i.)  To  give  a  knowledge  of  the  powers  and  neces- 
sary laws  of  the  mind  in  thought.  Pure  logic  shows 
the  laws  both  of  immediate  knowledge  and  of  mediate 
knowledge,  or  thought.  It  teaches  the  methods  of  per- 
ception, or  the  outer  order  of  things  repeated  to  the 
mind  ;  and  of  thought,  or  the  inner  order  of  things  as  it 
exists  in  the  mind  by  intuition,  notion,  judgment,  in- 
ference, and  system.  Without  some  training  in  the  art 
of  thinking,  one  could  hardly  presume  to  be  a  public 
teacher  or  speaker.  The  preacher  should  know  how  to 
think.  He  should  know  what  thought  is,  as  far  as  it  can 
be  known,  both  in  its  origin  in  the  cognitive  faculties  of 
intuition,  perception,  imagination,  and  in  its  evolution 
through  the  elaborative  or  discursive  faculties.  He 
should  have  some  clear  idea  of  the  formation  of  distinct 
judgments  out  of  the  region  of  consciousness.  Then, 
having  gained  the  materials  of  thought,  he  should  know 

'  Charnock. 


S66  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

how  to  build  upon  them,  by  following  out  the  laws  of 
logical  method,  and  step  by  step,  through  new  identifica- 
tions and  comparisons  of  relations,  he  should  arrive  at 
higher  and  wider  results.  He  should  understand  the  laws 
of  reasoning,  by  which,  whether  through  the  briefer 
method  of  inference  or  the  more  complex  one  of  syllo- 
gistic reasoning,  certain  products  are  reached.  A  syllo- 
gism is  the  regular  logical  form  of  any  argument,  con- 
sisting of  three  propositions,  of  which  the  first  two  are 
called  the  premises,  and  the  last  the  conclusion.  The 
conclusion  necessarily  follows  from  the  premises.  But 
it  is  a  mere  form  of  reasoning,  very  liable  to  prove 
sophistical,  or  to  prove  nothing,  because  the  terms  are 
really  identical.  But  if  the  premises  are  not  true,  and 
the  syllogism  is  regular,  the  reasoning  itself  is  vahd,  and 
the  conclusion,  whether  true  or  false,  is  regularly  de- 
rived. This  dialectic  skill,  therefore,  may  be  cultivated. 
Thought,  while  free,  yet  has  its  laws,  which  are  as  invaria- 
ble as  the  laws  of  the  physical  world.  It  is  by  walking 
in  the  narrow  way  that,  intellectually  speaking,  we  come 
into  the  kingdom  of  truth.  A  man  may  have  transient 
perceptions  of  truth,  and  brilliant,  though  vague,  intui- 
tions ;  but  he  can  make  little  sure  progress  in  the  inves- 
tigation and  discovery  of  truth,  unless  he  is  able  from  one 
clear  judgment  of  the  mind,  or  two  distinct  judgments, 
to  evolve,  by  a  movement  of  thought,  a  new  though  com- 
monly related  judgment  ;  and  this  is  the  simple  process  of 
deductive  reasoning.  We  v/ill  not  enter  here  deeper  into 
the  subject  ;  but,  as  preachers  and  reasoners,  we  should 
acquaint  ourselves  with  the  names  and  processes  of  the 
science  of  reasoning,  for  its  very  names  and  forms  are  in- 
timately connected  with  its  processes.  We  thus  gain  a 
clearer  idea  of  the  great  laws  of  thought,  and  through 
thought  we  verify  and  build  up  truth.     Using  it  as  an  in- 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  567 

strument,  we  go  forth  into  the  fields  of  the  physical  and 
spiritual  world,  and  construct  systems  out  of  the  materials 
they  furnish.  In  this  way  alone  we  can  intelligently  teach 
truth  ;  and  the  preacher  is,  above  all,  a  teacher.  We 
would  add,  under  this  head,  a  word  as  to  the  two  simple 
and  fundamental  principles  of  all  thinking,  and  into  which 
all  true  reasoning  resolves  itself,  namely,  analysis  and 
synthesis,  {a.)  Analysis.  This  process  is 
that  of  a  whole  to  a  part.  It  reduces  a  truth 
to  its  elements,  proving  separately  its  different  terms  and 
conclusions,  and  examining  its  groundwork  and  founda- 
tions. This  is  always  an  intensely  interesting  process  to 
the  human  mind,  and  to  the  common  mind.  There  will 
always  be  eager  listeners  to  a  preacher  who  takes  a  truth, 
even  so  repulsive  a  truth  as  that  of  human  sinfulness, 
and  analyzes  it  with  power  and  skill,  and  who  thus  gradu- 
ally leads  the  mind  from  the  outward  to  the  inward  truth, 
from  the  abstract  statement  to  the  concrete  substance, 
^.^.,  from  the  nature  of  sin  itself  to  the  nature  of  the 
human  act  of  sin  and  all  that  it  involves  and  bears  along 
with  it.  A  preacher  who  has  not  disciplined  his  mind  to 
this  analyzing  process  is  always  liable  to  be  tripped  up  by  4* 
some  strong-minded  reasoner  in  his  congregation.  His 
proposition  is  declared  to  be  an  apparent,  and  not  true, 
conclusion  from  his  premises,  or  his  argument  totally  fails 
to  touch  this  or  that  objection  which  reaches  down  deeper 
still.  But  the  analytic  method  has  its  dangers  ;  and  rea- 
soners  carried  away  by  their  critical  enthusiasm,  are  apt  to 
make  too  much  of  the  capabilities  of  analysis,  and  to  forget 
that  it  is  really  a  process  of  dissection,  in  which  often  the 
living  unity  escapes.  Great  errors  in  metaphysics  and  the- 
ology have  originated  from  an  extravagant  use  of  the  ana- 
lytic process.  In  this  way  one  may  soon  reason  himself 
out  of  the  sphere  of  living  truth,  and  come  into  the  region 


568  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

of  barren  speculation  and  of  atheistic  materialism,  as  the 
strong  tendency  is  now  in  some  of  the  physical  sciences, 
especially  in  the  search  after  the  principle  of  the  origin  of 
life.  Truth  in  its  primitive  cor»ditions  is  a  whole  or  unit, 
and  the  moment  you  separate  them  without  regard  to 
this  organic  unity,  you  begin  to  lose  the  highest  concep- 
tion of  truth.  For  these  reasons  we  should  not  neglect 
the    second    great  principle.       (^.)  Synthesis.     This  has 

.      .       primary    regard    to    the  totality    of    truth  : 
Synthesis.  .        .  ^ 

and  it  aims  at  the  combination  of  parts  in 

one  whole.  As  a  reasoning  process  it  is  that  from  a 
part  to  a  whole.  It  divides  off,  or  draws  off,  sepa- 
rately, that  point  of  agreement  in  several  objects  which 
we  can  designate  by  some  common  term.  Thus,  grad- 
ually, some  general  fact,  or  general  principle,  which 
belongs  in  common  to  all  these  objects,  or  classes  of 
objects,  may  be  separated,  and  higher  and  higher  levels 
of  truth,  more  and  more  nearly  approaching  the  nature 
pf  pure  laws,  may  be  arrived  at.  This  is  a  great  power  in 
a  preacher,  and  lifts  him  at  once  above  the  level  of  those 
men  who  can  never  rise  out  of  a  circle  of  conventional 
ideas,  nor  venture  upon  new  and  independent  views  of 
truth  ;  whose  stock  in  trade  consists  entirely  of  the  con- 
clusions of  other  minds.  The  moving  power  of  reason- 
ing depends  mainly  upon  this  power  of  generalization,  of 
rising  from  one  conclusion  to  another,  and  bearing  along 
the  mind  of  the  hearer  in  a  living  and  commanding  pro- 
cess of  argumentation,  in  which  truth  is  made  to  develop 
its  grander  forces  and  its  wider  circles  of  thought  and 
proof.  Nothing  is  more  useful  than  this  power  of  gen- 
eralization to  a  preacher  who  derives  his  themes  of  in- 
struction from  the  Word  of  God  ;  who  must,  for  the  pur- 
poses of  instruction,  or  in  order  to  give  unity  to  his  in- 
struction, seek  to  derive  out  of  various  members  and  parts 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  569 

of  a  passage,  one  truth,  one  main  lesson,  one  clear  propo- 
sition, which  he  is  to  illustrate  and  enforce. 

(2.)  To  develop  truth  in  an  orderly  manner.  Truth  is 
orderly.  Being  the  child  of  the  supreme  reason,  truth 
must  have  an  essential  order,  and  certain  unalterable 
proportions,  which,  if  destroyed  or  disarranged,  cease 
to  have  power.  The  gospel  is  a  system  of  truth  going 
out  from  a  living  centre,  governed  by  one  law  of  de- 
velopment, and  wonderful  in  its  adaptation  to  the  human 
mind.  It  is  bringing  the  infinite  into  the  bounds  of  the 
finite.  In  order,  therefore,  that  it  may  have  its  full  influ- 
ence and  transforming  power  upon  the  mind,  it  should  be 
made  to  stand  before  the  mind  in  something  of  its 
original  symmetry.  The  basis  of  all  true  preaching,  or 
sermonizing,  is  this  deeply-meditated  and  orderly  de- 
velopment of  Christian  truth.  The  subject-matter  of 
edifying  and  instructive  preaching  is  the  thorough  discus- 
sion of  those  great  principles  of  truth  in  their  real  har- 
mony of  proportions,  which,  taken  together,  form  the 
body  of  Christian  doctrine.  This  kind  of  thoughtful  rea- 
soning must  constitute  what  has  been  called  "  the  spinal 
column"  of  every  true  sermon.  Other  things  are  ad- 
juncts ;  but  here  is  the  bone  and  substance  of  preach- 
ing. Compact,  orderly  discussion  should  occupy  the 
main  body  of  almost  every  discourse  from  the  pulpit. 
"  It  is  order,"  Vinet  says,  "  which  constitutes  discourse. 
The  difference  between  a  common  orator  and  an  eloquent 
man  is  often  nothing  but  a  difference  in  respect  of  dis- 
position." This  "  liicidiis  ordo,"  this  true  method  in 
discourse,  is  essential  to  the  teacher  of  truth.  Method 
aids  us  to  arrive  at  the  end  at  which  we  aim,  by  applying 
the  principles  of  the  true  development  of  thought  to  the 
investigation  and  confirmation  of  truth.  The  materials 
of  truth,  derived  from  the  higher  intuitions  of  reason,  the 


S70  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

phenomena  of  consciousness,  the  observations  of  the 
senses,  and  the  evidence  of  testimony,  especially  that  of 
the  Scriptures,  are  organized,  verified,  and  established, 
through  the  laws  of  methodical  reasoning.  Thus  we  do 
not  compose  vaguely,  which  is  composing  without 
thought.  We  do  not  snatch  up  slight  impressions  or 
suggestions,  and  discuss  them  without  grasp  or  depth  ; 
but  by  the  application  of  true  principles  of  definition,  divi- 
sion, and  reasoning,  we  verify  our  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, arrange  and  dispose  it  in  a  clear  method  ;  and  we 
are  thus  able  to  teach  it  ;  for  "  one  does  not  really  know 
a  truth  until  he  can  teach  it." 

As  highly  as  the  study  of  logic  has  been  lauded,  per- 
haps, after  all,  its  greatest  value,  or  its  true  value,  is  to 
teach  method  in  discourse.  To  the  preacher  it  is  useful 
as  aiding  him  in  his  plan;  "when,"  in  the  words  of 
Hooker,  "all  that  goes  before  prepares  the   way  for  all 

y 

that  follows,  and  all   that  follows   confirms  all  that  went 
before."     It  promotes  movement  in  a  sermon,  and  keeps 
^  the  end  in  view,  eliminating  all  that  is  not  subservient  to 
that  end. 

While  divine  truth  does  not  depend  upon  any  process 
of  reasoning  but  upon  direct  revelation,  and  upon  the 
teaching  of  God's  spirit  in  the  heart,  yet  by  the  tests  and 
criteria  of  inductive  reasoning,  hypothesis,  analogy,  and 
the  last  analyses  and  relations  of  truth,  its  harmonies  are 
brought  out,  its  groundwork  is  laid  bare,  and  it  is  pre- 
sented to  the  mind  in  such  a  way  that  the  reason  bows 
and  the  conscience  is  convicted.  Great  preachers  have 
been  great  reasoners  ;  not,  perhaps,  all  of  them,  in  the 
scientific  methods  of  strict  logic,  but  in  the  clear  develop- 
ment of  the  foundation  principles  of  doctrine,  and  in  that 
method  of  persuasion  which  the  heart  teaches  to  the  true 
preacher.     Jonathan   Edwards  reasoned  so  forcibly  that 


GENERAL    PRINCIPLES   OP  RHETORIC.  571 

his  hearers  thoui^ht  God  was  spcakinij  to  them  through 
him,  as,  indeed,  he  was  ;  for  he  grasped  fundamental 
principles,  and  so  entered  into  them,  that  while  he  him- 
self was  hidden,  he  shook  the  consciences  of  men  by  the 
pure  power  of  truth.  A  greater  than  Edwards,  or  than 
Calvin,  among  human  preachers  was  the  apostle  Paul, 
who  was,  above  all,  a  reasoner.  "He  reasoned  [6ia- 
Xeyo/xtvov  dd  dtiTov)  of  righteousness,  temperance,  and 
judgment  to  come."  He  was,  according  to  Longinus, 
who  had  himself  drunk  into  the  spirit  of  Demosthenoe,  a 
dialectician  of  the  first  order.  He  convinced  the  reason 
and  carried  the  heart.  He  was  not  a  dogmatic  reasoner, 
or  a  mere  logician  and  ''  doctrinaire,^'  and  his  reasoning 
was  more  rhetorical  than  formal,  but  he  appealed  to  re- 
ceived principles  of  reasoning,  to  arguments  that  had  a 
universal  applicability,  and  to  eternal  truths  in  the  con- 
stitution of  his  hearers'  minds.  He  did  not  ask  them  to 
believe  anything  which  he  did  not  show  them  to  be  right, 
and  which,  therefore,  ought  to  be  believed,  and  which  he 
himself  believed.  How  fundamental  were  the  great 
themes  of  his  preaching,  reaching  to  those  questions 
which  enter  into  the  nature  of  God  and  the  divine  origin 
of  man — predestination  and  election,  the  corruption  of 
human  nature  by  sin,  grace  and  the  atonement,  justifica- 
tion by  faith  and  sanctification  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
building  up  of  the  soul  in  a  holy  life,  and  the  spiritual 
kingdom  of  Christ  !  This  kind  of  doctrinal  pi-eaching, 
dealing  with  fundamental  truths,  rib'bed  and  clamped 
with  manly  argument,  and  filled  with  the  breathings  of 
the  Spirit,  and  the  warm  affections  of  the  heart,  is  a  kind 
of  preaching  which  is  powerful,  and  which  lasts.  Argu- 
ment forms  the  basis  of  interest  with  the  popular  mind, 
and  it  is  the  staple  method  of  dealing  with  and  influenc- 
ing  mind.      All    kinds    of    highly    exciting   and    merely 


572  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

"  sensational  preaching,"  soon  wear  out  ;  but  plain,  sen- 
sible, and  comprehensive  reasoning,  without  the  pedantry 
of  the  logician,  or  the  hardness  of  the  metaphysician, 
always  has  power  with  the  great  mass  of  common-sense, 
intelligent  hearers.  A  sermon  which  has  nothing  of  this 
element  of  thoughtful  argumentation  in  it  rarely  makes 
an  enduring  impression,  because  it  does  not  reach  the 
""^depths  of  the  subject,  or  the  depths  of  the  mind.  It 
ruffles  the  top  waves  ;  it  does  not  go  down  into  the 
springs  of  thought  or  motive.  A  preacher  should  be 
able  to  treat  of  the  fundamental  nature  of  moral  evi- 
dence, and  to  reason  in  a  forcible  manner  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  moral  truth  as  related  to  human  responsibility. 
No  amount  of  fine  writing,  dazzling  declamation,  or  even 
pathetic  appeal,  can  atone  for  the  absence  of  sound  rea- 
soning in  a  sermon.  It  need  not,  and  should  not,  be 
technically  theological,  nor  be  continued  wearisomely  ; 
but  there  can  be  little  true  eloquence  without  it.  Truth, 
which  is  the  converting  agency,  is  not  honored  if  it  is  not 
carefully  developed,  and  if  this  thoughtful,  orderly  setting 
forth  of  truth  do  not  form  the  basis  of  the  sermon.  This 
forms  the  positive  element  in  preaching. 

(3.)  To  lodge  truth  firmly  in  men's  minds.  Reasoning 
is  not  mere  philosophy,  which  is  the  manifestation  of  the 
essential  nature  of  things.  But  true  reasoning  is  rather 
the  manifestation  or  exhibition  of  truth  for  the  purpose 
of  immediate  persuasion  and  practical  good.  A  true 
preacher's  reasoning  aims  to  lodge  truth  in  men's  minds. 
Even  logic,  truly  defined,  is  the  science  of  methodizing 
and  of  directing  the  intellectual  powers  in  the  investiga- 
tion of  truth,  and  its  communication  to  other  minds. 
The  last  is  as  important  as  the  first  ;  it  is  the  essential 
thing  in  true  reasoning.  While  the  preacher,  then,  may 
philosophize  in  reasoning,  he  cannot  remain  in  philoso- 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  573 

phy,  but  must  bring  the  truth  out  into  the  sphere  of 
human  responsibility.  He  should  not  be  satisfied  with 
merely  demonstrating  truth,  but  he  should  seek,  as  far  as 
human  powers  can  do  this,  to  apply  it  to  the  human 
mind  according  to  the  laws  of  the  mind  ;  for  if  these  laws 
be  observed  in  reasoning,  the  truth  must  be  accepted,  at 
least  intellectually,  and  this  is  a  great  thing  gained. 
The  principles  of  reasoning  are  the  same  in  all  minds. 
The  process  of  producing  conviction  is  the  same,  though 
there  are  immense  differences  in  reasoning  pov/er.  There 
is  but  one  way  by  which  the  mind  is  convinced  of  the 
truth,  and  becomes  subjected  to  it.  And  divine  truth 
itself  is  not  to  be  taken  out  of  this  category,  though  influ- 
ences of  a  supernatural  nature  are  superadded,  for  the 
purpose  of  awakening  the  dormant  or  dead  energies  of 
the  mind.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  not  given  because  we  have 
not  all  the  rational  power  needed  to  be  convinced  by  the 
truth,  but  it  is  added  because  we  will  not,  and,  morally 
speaking,  cannot,  without  the  renewing  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  use  the  power  and  receive  the  truth.  We 
should  do  our  best  to  convince  men  of  the  truth,  and 
leave  it  to  a  higher  power  to  bring  their  minds  into  a 
condition  in  which  the  truth  will  find  firm  lodgment  in 
them,  and  work  its  work  upon  them  ;  and  the  true  rca- 
soner  will  stand  the  best  chance  to  do  this.  We  may  say 
that  the  burden  of  proof  lies  with  the  enemies  of  truth  ; 
nevertheless,  the  preacher  cannot  expect  to  reach  men's 
minds,  and  permanently  convince  them,  unless  he  sets 
truth  before  them  in  a  clear  manner. 

(4.)  To  expose  and  overcome  error.  Error  is  perverted 
or  wrongly  reasoned  truth — truth  out  of  its  right  rela- 
tions. It  is  built  on  some  process  of  false  reasoning,  and, 
having  the  appearance  of  truth,  it  has  more  power  to  de- 
ceive.   It  may  arise  from  a  fault  in  the  form  of  thinking. 


574  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

and  thus  be  self-deceiving — the  most  subtly  powerful  of 
all  error.  It  may  arise  from  carelessness  of  observation, 
or  untrue  induction  and  deduction.  Thus  the  statements 
from  which  a  conclusion  is  drawn  may  even  be  true,  but 
the  deduction  itself  may  be  full  of  error.  This  false  rea- 
soning, however,  may  be  sometimes  far  too  deep  for  the 
ordinary  mind  to  detect.  The  Christian  heart  may  de- 
tect it,  but  it  cannot  be  thoroughly  overthrown  until  its 
fallacy  is  discovered  and  exposed.  This  can  be  done 
only  by  the  disciplined  reasoner.  Gibbon,  Hume, 
Strauss,  have  rarely  met  their  match  as  acute  dialecti- 
cians ;  therefore  their  reasoning  has  continued  to  work 
mischief.  Zealous  but  unskillful  men  have  attacked 
them,  and  been  foiled,  and  the  public  faith  has  been 
weakened.  It  would  seem  to  be  proved  that  the  fierce 
discussions  upon  Hume's  famous  argument  on  "  miracles" 
might  have  been  saved  if  some  contemporary  theologian 
had  been  able  to  point  out  in  a  clear  way,  which  admitted 
of  no  gainsaying,  the  fallacy  contained  in  Hume's  argu- 
ment— that  its  middle  term  refers  really  to  but  a  part, 
whereas  his  conclusion  is  made  to  refer  to  a  whole — an 
instance  of  what  is  called  in  logic  '*  illicit  process."  In 
other  words,  Hume  fal'sely  makes  some  testimony,  which 
is  weak  and  fallible,  to  stand  for  all  testimony,  which  is 
not  thus  weak  and  fallible.  The  preacher  should  be 
boldly  skillful  to  detect  these  fallacies  of  false  reasoning. 
Many  errors  of  the  head,  and  many  errors  which  arise 
from  ignorance  and  prejudice,  and  many  errors  which 
arise  from  false  popular  inductions,  might  be  put  aside 
forever  in  a  congregation,  if  the  preacher  understood  the 
nature  of  true  and  false  reasoning.  Admit  the  Romish 
premises,  and  you  must  come  to  the  Romish  conclu- 
sion ;  admit  the  rationalistic  premises,  and  you  can  land 
yourself  in  the  depths  of  pantheism,  and  even  atheism. 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  575 

When  an  error  arises  in  a  community,  men  honor  a 
courageous  assault  made  upon  it  by  fair  argument, 
rather  than  an  attempt  to  put  it  down  in  a  dogmatic,  un- 
reasoning way  ;  it  will  thrive  under  this  latter  treatment. 
A  preacher  of  Christ  has,  at  some  time,  to  buckle  on  the 
armor  of  controversy,  and  meet  error  in  manful  conflict. 
He  must  sometimes  fight  it  out,  as  Paul  tells  Timothy  to 
do  in  respect  to  the  false  teachers  of  Ephesus  ;  and  by 
the  clear  "  manifestation  of  the  truth,"  he  will  commend 
himself  and  his  cause  to  all. 

(5.)  To  enable  him  to  employ  the  fit  argument.  We 
need  not  say  that  all  arguments  should  not  be  used  at  all 
times.  Before  some  audiences  it  would  be  better  to  em- 
ploy the  indirect  argument  than  an  argument  where  the 
conclusion  is  apparent.  Dr.  Emmons  was  famous  for  his 
''ratio  obliqua,"  which  oftentimes  was  brought  to  bear 
with  sudden  and  irresistible  power.  He  is,  however, 
not  to  be  followed  too  closely  in  that,  for  that  art,  if 
commonly  used,  would   seem    to   imply   something  like 

craft.     In  proving  a  certain  proposition,  or 

,,,,..  ,       The  a  priori 

form  of  truth,  the  a  prion  argument,  or  the     argument 

method  of  deductive  reasoning  from  gen- 
erals to  particulars,  where  certain  generic  truths  are 
taken  for  the  premises,  and  then  we  reason  to  individuals 
or  particulars  contained  under  them,  may  be  the  most 
forcible  method.  Reasoning  upon  the  nature  of  God 
admits  of  the  highest  and  most  constant  use  of  this  kind 
of  argument.  Indeed,  the  preacher  is  called  upon  to  use 
this  argument  almost  continually,  from  the  fact  that  he 
preaches  to  interpret  and  enforce  divine  revelation, 
instead  of  being  called  upon,  as  the  scientific  man  is,  to 
arrive  at  new  truth  by  the  system  of  inductive  reason- 
ing. 

Sometimes  it  is  best  to  reason  from  an  announced  con- 


57^  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

elusion,  where  demonstrative  truth  is  impossible.     This 

tentative  process,  when  conducted  on  true 
Unannounced       .      .    ,  ,  •     i  •  i 

,     .         prmciples,  and  not  carried  mto  the  extremes 
conclusion,      v  r       ■> 

of  theoretical  reasoning,  is  often  interesting 
and  awakening ;  it  leads  to  original  investigations  and 
fresh  views  of  divine  truth.  Oftentimes,  on  the  other 
hand,  without  naming  our  proposition,  it  is  the  most 
effective  plan  to  reason  downward  toward  an  unan- 
nounced conclusion,  arriving  at  it  as  if  led  by  the  very 
force  of  truth,  and  not  from  any  prearranged  and  control- 
ling proposition. 

A  strong  argument  is  made  by  reasoning  from  the  prin- 
ciple of  expansion  or  extension  ;  as,  for  example,  that  of 

Young,  in  his  "  Christ  in  History,"  He 
Expansion.  ,      •        1   r  r  t        1. 

argues  irom  the  admitted  tacts  of  our  Lord  s 

life  on  earth,  taking  the  most  natural  and  lowest  view  of 

them — facts  which  present  to  men  the  simple  manhood 

of  Jesus  ;  from  these  his  argument  rises  and  leads  on  to 

the  irresistible  conclusion  that  such  words,  such  works, 

such  facts,  such  a  character,  can  be   predicated  only  of  a 

divine  being,  of  one  who  in  the  constitution  of  his  nature 

was  one  with  God.  The  argument  from  con- 
Contraries.  ,       „   . 

traries  is  sometimes  the  only  emcient  argu- 
ment ;  for  the  truth  of  some  propositions  can  be  estab- 
lished only  by  proving  their  opposites  to  be  untrue  ;  for 
of  two  opposites,  both  cannot  be  true,  and  if  one  be  false, 
the  other  must  be  true.     The  argument  from  analogy  is 

particularly  useful  to   the   preacher,  but   is, 
Analogy.  ,        ,.„      ,  ,         ,, 

nevertheless,   extremely  difficult   to   handle 

with  effect  ;  and  one  may  easily  overdo  it,  and  injure  his 
cause.  A  false  analog}'"  is  very  seductive  and  very  injuri- 
ous. Because,  it  is  sometimes  said,  a  cultivated  garden 
always  brings  forth  good  fruits,  therefore  a  cultivated 
mind  always  produces  good  fruits  and  education  is  thus 


GENERAL    PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  $11 

the  universal  panacea  of  all  evils — certainly  a  false  con- 
clusion. Analogy  is  often  a  strong  argument,  but  it  is 
not,  and  cannot  be,  a  wholly  demonstrative  argument  ; 
even  Bishop  Butler's  argument  is  not  claimed  to  be  con- 
clusive. It  may  be  as  strong  in  its  moral  impression  as  a 
demonstrative  argument,  and  even  stronger  ;  but  it  is, 
after  all,  greater  in  its  negative  than  in  its  positive  force. 
It  is  said  to  have  raised  more  doubts  in  the  mind  of  Will- 
iam Pitt  than  it  solved.  Employed  in  the  more  common 
methods  of  comparison,  and  of  illustrative  reasoning,  the 
argument  of  analogy  is  of  exceeding  value  to  the  preacher 
in  imparting  a  living  force  to  his  preaching  ;  and  that 
kind  of  reasoning  makes  the  natural  world  an  organ  to 
play  upon,  and  from  it  may  be  drawn  harmonies  and  ac- 
cords the  most  unexpected,  powerful,  and  delightful. 

"  The  argument  from  analogy  may  be  sound,  but  it 
is  not  to  all  minds  the  most  conclusive." 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  argument  from 
analogy,  unless  it  is  supported  by  a  true  process  of  in- 
duction, or  unless  there  is  some  real  and  substantial  rea- 
son for  the  similarity  of  relations  supposed  in  the  an- 
alogy, becomes  a  mere  illustration,  having  a  rhetorical, 
but  no  logical  value.  To  some  kinds  of  mind  nothing  is 
more  tempting  and  nothing  often  more  deluding  than  the 
analogical  style  of  reasoning.  It  is  what  Sir  William 
Hamilton  calls  the  principle  of  "  Philosophical  Presump- 
tion," by  which  we  extend  our  inferences  beyond  the 
limits  of  experience  ;  and  though  a  process  dictated  by 
the  noblest  intelligence  yet  it  has  its  great  temptations 
to  error.  By  induction  we  reason  on  the  principle  of  re- 
garding the  one  in  the  many— the  one  thing  in  common 
in  the  many  ;  by  analogy  we  reason  on  the  principle  of  re- 
garding the  many  in  the  one — or  the  many  things  in  com- 
mon in   the  one  ;  so    "  analogy  rests   upon   the  principle 


57^  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

that  things  which  have  many  observed  attributes  in 
common  have  other  not  observed  attributes  in  common 
likewise."  It  is,  after  all,  a  pure  presumption,  though 
there  may  be  very  good  grounds  for  it.  "  To  judge 
analogically  is  to  judge  things  by  the  similarity  of  their 
relations."  Yox  example,  the  theologian  whose  views  we 
may  be  discussing,  agrees  in  many  points  of  doctrine 
with  the  Calvinistic  system  of  theology,  therefore, 
though  we  do  not  know  the  fact,  it  is  right,  we  say,  to 
presume  that  he  is  a  thorough  Calvinist.  This,  you  see, 
though  perfectly  legitimate  and  highly  interesting,  is  still 
not  absolutely  conclusive  or  demonstrative  reasoning. 
Sir  William  Hamilton,  however,  ascribes  to  it  a  measure 
of  certainty  under  some  conditions,  but  he  says,  never- 
theless, "Analogy  can  only  pretend,  at  best,  to  a  high 
degree  of  probability  ;  it  may  have  a  high  degree  of  cer- 
tainty, but  it  never  reaches  to  necessity."  And  as  to 
that  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  inductive  method. 

The  arguments,   too,  from  relation,   omission,  experi- 
ence, testimon)',  probability,  may  be  wielded  with  effect, 
P  .    .  if  they  are  employed  at  the  right  time  and 

omission       'i^  the  right  place.      What  is  required   in   an 
experience,    argument  is  simply  to  present    the  truth  in 
testimony,     ^g  strong  and  clear  a  light  as  one  can,  so  as 
pr    a     » y-    j-Q   gj^g    ^jj   possible    satisfaction    to    every 
mind   in   the   audience.      We   are   required,   therefore,  to 
study  the   particular  case   before   us,  the    nature    of   the 
truth  to  be  established,  the  end  to  be  gained,  the  quality 
of  the  audience,  and   to  adapt   the   reasoning    to  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  theme  and  occasion,  so  that  we  may 
be  "  workmen  that  need  not  to  be  ashamed." 

(6.)  To  produce  persuasion.  We  mean  by  this  some- 
thing over  and  above  what  has  been  said  of  developing 
truth  and   lodging  it   in   the   mind.      We  mean   effecting 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  579 

a  change  in  the  mind  and  act  of  the  hearer.  We  mean 
not  merely  to  convince,  not  merely  to  move,  but  to  move 
to  act.  Paul  and  the  early  preachers  did  not  leave 
men  quaking  under  the  law,  but  led  them  to  Christ ;  the 
law  itself  was  made  to  conduct  men  to  Christ.  This 
was  old  Latimer's  way  of  preaching.  He  was  earnest, 
as  he  said  in  his  own  quaint  words,  "  in  casting  down  the 
people  w^ith  the  law,  and  with  the  threatenings  of  God 
for  sin  ;  not  forgetting  to  ridge  them  up  again  with  the 
gospel  and  the  promises  of  God's  favor." 

Persuasion,  according  to  VVhately,  depends  on  the  con- 
viction of  the  understanding,  the  influencing  of  the  will, 
and  the  moving  of  the  feelings.  Now,  it  is  evident  that 
no  exhortation,  nor  brilliant  writing,  can  do  this,  with- 
out, first  of  all,  some  clear  exhibition  of  truth,  which  ap- 
peals to  the  reason,  presents  a  motive  to  the  will,  and 
acts  as  an  impulse  to  the  feelings.  Feeling  does  not 
move  at  the  mere  voice  of  command.  It  is  jealous  of 
authority — it  refuses  to  be  tampered  with.  The  road  to 
it  is  indirect,  and  often  exceedingly  circuitous.  The  per- 
suasion which  finally  seizes  upon  and  moves  the  whole 
being  is  no  immediate  result.  When  the  Athenians 
started  up  and  cried,  "  To  arms  !"  it  was  after  one  of 
Demosthenes'  most  exhaustive  and  labored  efforts  of  rea- 
soning. The  depths  of  the  nature  must  be  slowly  aroused 
and  heated,  before  the  whole  soul — so  to  speak — flows 
forth  under  persuasion./ The  understanding  must  hand 
its  verdict  to  the  will,  and  the  will  must  communicate  its 
impulse  to  the  affections,  and  then  the  whole  awakened 
mind  yields  itself  freely  to  the  truth,  and  says,  "  I  believe, 
and  I  will  do.''/  As  has  been  said  in  regard  to  divine 
truth,  the  substantial  and  peculiar  nature  of  divine  truth 
should  not  be  lost  sight  of — that  it  is  in  itself  pure  and 
simple,  the  converting  instrumentality  ;  or  rather  that  it 


580  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

is  accompanied  by  the  special  demonstrating  and  renew- 
ing power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  We  can  add  nothing  to 
the  truth.  "  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting 
the  soul."  All  is  dry  light  without  God's  living  energy 
— that  inner  persuasion  of  truth  which  imparts  new  life 
to  the  nature. 

We  add  two  cautions  to  the  preacher  in  the  use  of  rea- 
soning, (c?.)  He  should  not  rely  wholly  upon  it  for  suc- 
cess. Let  one  carefully  study  the  apostolic 
au  ions  in   ^.j-j^^j-y  ^f  preaching,  as  laid  down  in  i  Cor. 

the  use  of  \  ,  ,       ,     .,. 

reasoning.  I  :  I7>  to  the  2  :  5,  where  the  futility  of  hu- 
man wisdom  in  turning  the  sinful  heart  to 
God  is  demonstrated.  We  see  ourselves  how  absolute 
errors,  fatal  errors,  in  regard  to  life  and  doctrine,  some- 
times spring  from  false  reasoning,  perverted  judgment, 
imperfect  and  partial  induction,  the  fallacious  but  at- 
tractive syllogism,  the  ambiguous  method,  the  inverted 
proof,  the  passionate  or  dogmatic  conclusion,  the  rare- 
ness of  clear  definition,  the  innumerable  causes  and 
influences  that  go  to  disturb  and  destroy  the  honest 
processes  of  the  mind  even  of  the  man  of  best  inten- 
tions ;  and  these  things  forbid  us  to  trust  too  much 
to  reasoning.  The  nature  of  the  corrupted  human  heart 
and  the  nature  of  divine  truth — in  a  word,  the  pres- 
ence of  sin  and  the  need  of  a  higher  power — forbid  a 
supreme  reliance  on  human  reason.  The  preacher  of 
Christ  is  indeed  the  agent  of  producing  not  only  persua- 
sion, but  life  ;  he  is  not  only,  by  means  of  the  truth,  to 
bring  men  into  a  new  opinion,  but  into  a  new  disposi- 
tion ;  but  he  must  have  God's  help  for  this.  Yet  the 
truth  is,  nevertheless,  the  instrument  of  this  great  work. 
A  popular  American  preacher  has  said  that  "  ministers 
should  not  always  be  talking  about  the  truth — the  truth. 
They  should  preach  and  think  more  of  the  life."     We 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  581 

agree  with  the  sentiment  that  was  probably  meant  to  be 
conveyed  by  tliat  remark,  yet  there  is  a  latent  fallacy  in 
it  ;  for  divine  truth  differs  from  common  truth,  inasmuch 
as  it  is  itself  potential  wuth  life  :  "  My  words,  they  are 
spirit  and  they  are  life,"  They  are  not  the  mere  food  of 
the  intellect,  they  nourish  the  soul  into  everlasting  life. 
We  know  of  no  way  of  producing  new  spiritual  life 
excepting  through  the  bringing  home  of  divine  truth  to 
men's  minds  and  hearts,  and,  through  their  honest  recep- 
tion of  it  into  the  currents  of  life.  This  further  inward 
assimilating  and  life-giving  process  of  the  truth  is  hidden 
and  mysterious  to  us  ;  yes,  more  so  than  the  processes 
of  our  natural  life  ;  but  our  duty  as  preachers  is  plain  : 
we  should  present  and  enforce  the  truth  in  the  clearest, 
most  powerful  and  most  persuasive  manner  that  we  are 
capable  of.  "  Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth 
shall  make  you  free. 

That  is  invariably  the  divine  method  ;  and  it  is  beauti- 
fully consonant  to  the  laws  of  the  mind.  We  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  reasoning,  while  it  has  a  real  value 
to  the  preacher,  is  insufficient  for  the  highest  practical 
results  ;  these  depend  upon  other  factors.  God,  and  the 
things  of  God,  in  their  deepest  and  truest  meanings,  do 
not  lie  in  the  domain  of  reasoning  ;  they  are  to  be 
reached,  if  at  all,  through  faith,  feeling,  obedience,  love 
— often  by  not  seeking  to  prove  or  define  them.  The 
preacher  should,  therefore,  beware  of  dogmatizing  upon 
themes  of  a  higher  sphere,  and  should  keep  himself  to 
the  simple  language  of  faith  ;  he  should  choose  to  be 
vague,  rather  than  to  attempt  to  confine  infinite  things  in 
logical  formulas.  These  logical  forms  are  useful  but  they 
arc  not  creative  or  productive.  It  has  been  said  of  the 
syllogism  itself  that  it  is,  even  the  best,  but  a  pctitio 
principii.     One  may,  indeed,  sin  as  much  through  argu- 


582  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

mentative  preaching,  as  through  sensational  preaching. 
The  preacher  should  speak  on  heavenly  themes  even  as 
a  child  rather  than  as  a  geometrician.  His  reasoning, 
should  it  ever  assume  an  entirely  abstract  form,  separates 
himself  and  his  theme  from  the  living  sympathies  of  his 
hearers.  Preaching  must  reach  the  people,  or  it  is  vain, 
dead,  worse  than  dead,  {b.^  He  should  not  be  a  mere 
reasoner.  Reasoning  is  by  no  means  all  that  a  ser- 
mon needs.  It  should  have  literary  attractiveness,  spirit- 
ual insight,  and,  above  all,  heart,  love,  life,  faith,  unction. 
Some  kinds  of  sermons  do  not  even  admit  of  much  close 
reasoning.  And  reasoning  in  sermons  should  not  end  in 
demonstration,  but  should  be  aimed  at  the  conscience, 
will,  and  heart.  If  the  gospel  is  not  preached  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  rule  of  right,  in  reference  to  the  moral  sense 
of  men,  it  will  have  no  permanent  effect.  It  must  not 
coerce  nor  wheedle  men  ;  but  it  must  address  their  rea- 
sons in  all  honesty  and  fairness,  otherwise  the  pulpit  lays 
itself  open  to  the  charge  of  being  called  "  coward's  cas- 
tle." And  the  method  of  reasoning  should  not  be  too 
circuitous  or  technical.  Dr.  Wayland,  for  example,  had 
a  logical  mind,  and  used  the  logical  method  in  preach- 
ing ;  but  his  hearers  thought  little  of  the  logic,  because 
his  sermons  were  practical,  and  were  pointed  directly  to 
the  heart  and  life.  It  is  not  always  practicable,  nor 
always  best,  to  make  the  direct  appeal  ;  but  no  sermon 
should  be  left  to  stand  merely  as  an  argument,  exciting 
respect  or  applause,  and  carrying  conviction  to  the  head  ; 
but  the  hearers  should  perceive  that  the  preacher  cares 
nothing  about  the  argument,  as  an  argument,  and  that 
he  is  preaching  to  bring  them  to  God  and  eternal  life. 
The  preacher  should  not  leave  himself,  or  the  merit  of 
his  work,  in  the  mind  of  the  hearer,  but  Christ  and  his 
work,  Christ  and  his  love.      His  hearers  will  get   accus- 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  583 

tomcd  to  the  most  terrifying  doctrines,  if  they  see  that 
the  preacher,  in  his  treatment  of  them,  means  nothing 
more  than  the  display  of  his  dialectic  skill  and  partisan 
orthodoxy.  This  kind  of  preaching  has  been  sometimes 
carried  so  far,  that  it  has  emptied  churches  and  driven 
away  the  Spirit  of  God.  Paul  warned  Timothy  against 
this  very  thing,  and  bade  him  not  dwell  upon  subjects 
"  which  minister  questions,  rather  than  godly  edifying, 
which  is  in  faith  ;"  and  to  preach,  "  not  himself,  but 
Christ  Jesus  the  Lord."  The  preacher  and  his  sermon 
are  of  comparatively  little  importance.  They  have  ac- 
complished their  task,  if,  by  God's  grace,  they  bring  men 
to  the  feet  of  Jesus.  Has  a  sermon  an  amazingly  rend- 
ing power  ?  Like  a  shell  that  has  done  its  work,  the  most 
powerful  sermon,  the  most  faithful  argument,  after  it  has 
sped  to  its  mark,  is  but  worthless  iron. 

We  would  desire,  in  closing  this  theme,  to  repeat  the 
warning  against  too  high  expectations  concerning  the 
productive  power  of  the  logical  method  in  the  investiga- 
tion and  communication  of  divine  truth.  Insight  and 
simple  consciousness,  the  exercise  of  the  higher  reason, 
above  all,  faith  and  obedience,  are  the  chief  productive 
elements  in  the  discovery  and  inculcation  of  divine  truth. 
In  religious  things  the  intuitions  of  the  heart  are  better 
than  the  conclusions  of  the  intellect.  No  man  is  con- 
verted by  reasoning,  but  he  is  by  love — the  love  of  God 
as  manifested  in  Christ. 

Sec.   25.   Study  of  Language. 

Whatever  may  be  our  theory  in  regard  to  the  origin  of 
language,  whether  it  be  natural  or  divine,  it  is  assuredly 
the  divinely  ordained  and  inevitable  expression  of  that 
spirit  in  man  which  allies  him  to  God.  Man  was  created 
with  the  capacity  and  instinct  of  language  ;  i.e.,  with  the 


5^4  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

organs   of  speech    and  the  ability   to    use    these   organs 
to  express  his  thoughts  ;  and  the  effort  to 

ngin  an      ^^  \.\i\s,  or  the  process  of  doing  it,  was  the 
definition  of        .    .  .   ,  ,,„  , 

language,     origin  of  language.     What  the  actual  pro- 

cess  of  forming  language  was,  must  remain 
an  unexplained  problem  ;  but  the  two  elements  in  the 
production  of  language  were  undoubtedly  the  power  of 
thought  and  the  power  of  articulate  expression.  Why 
certain  sounds  were  applied  to  certain  things,  or  objects, 
or  ideas,  we  know  not  ;  but  we  know  that  there  must  have 
been,  before  sound,  the  power  of  perception,  of  obser- 
vation, of  classification  ;  and  thus  thought  was,  humanly 
speaking,  the  originating  cause  of  language.  Language 
is  thought  embodied  in  speech.  Words  are  the  signs 
and  instruments  of  thought.  And  what  is  thought  but 
the  operation  or  action  of  the  mind  itself,  in  its  endeavor 
to  communicate  its  ideas  or  to  define  and  express  its  con- 
ceptions? Thus  language,  as  the  expression  of  thought, 
which  is  the  essential  result  and  accompaniment  of 
mind,  is  really  the  true  manifestation  of  the  human 
mind.  Language  is  the  great  distinction  of  humanity, 
as  being  the  way  in  which  the  mind,  or  the  spirit,  in 
man,  makes  itself  known.  "  To  speak  is  a  necessity  of 
man's  rational  and  emotional  nature  ;  he  speaks  because 
he  thinks  and  feels."  As  the  word  without  the  spirit  is 
dead,  so,  perhaps,  it  may  be  said  that  the  spirit  v/ithout 
the  word  is  dead  also.  Let  us  come  at  the  root  of  lan- 
guage, and  we  find  that  it  is  spiritual  ;  and  this  truth  in- 
creases inexpressibly  its  value  and  power  to  us  as  preachers. 
It  is  true  that  language  is  not  a  perfect  expression  of  the 
spirit — how  could  it  be?  "For  any  definition  we  can 
frame  for  the  eye  as  the  organ  of  sight,  the  statement 
that  *  God  sees,'  is  untrue,  and  we  are  only  enabled  to 
decide  this  by  the  grasp  we  possess  of  the  idea  enveloped 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  585 

in  the  words,  '  He  that  made  the  eye  shall  he  not  see  ?  ' 
Thus  language,  with  all  its  power  of  abstraction,  is  but 
concrete  when  compared  with  thought  ;  and  it  is,  per- 
haps, the  privilege  of  advancing  holiness,  to  be  able  to 
divest  its  thoughts  more  and  more  of  the  accretions, 
which  are  not  wholly  separable  from  them  when  clothed 
in  human  language."  '  Although  language  is  thus,  after 
all,  an  imperfect  exhibition  of  the  soul,  or  thought  of  the 
soul,  yet  it  is  the  most  perfect  of  all  modes  of  spiritual  ex- 
pression. It  is  more  perfect  than  music,  painting,  sculp- 
ture, or  any  of  the  expressive  arts.  These  are,  in  some 
sort,  language,  and  very  expressive  language  ;  but  the 
language  which  is  contained  in  words  fits  the  soul  more 
closely,  and  is  more  subtle  and  vital  than  they.  The 
"  winged  words"  fly  forth  as  on  the  breath  of  the  soul. 
Other  modes  of  expression  are  more  material,  indefinite, 
and  obscure.  Speech  is  thus,  more  than  anything  else,  the 
soul  made  visible.  Ben  Jonson  says,  "  Language  must 
show  a  man  ;  speak,  that  I  may  see  thee  !  It  springs 
out  of  the  most  retired  and  inmost  parts  of  us,  and  is  the 
image  of  the  parent  of  it,  the  mind.  No  glass  renders  a 
man's  form  and  likeness  so  true  as  his  speech,"  Walter 
Savage  Landor  says,  "  Language  is  a  part  of  a  man's 
character."  In  fact,  no  two  persons  speak  the  same  lan- 
guage, nor  give  precisely  the  same  meaning  to  words. 
Every  man's  speech  is,  to  a  certain  degree,  peculiar  and 
individual,  being  the  image  of  his  own  soul,  and  of  no 
one's  else.  He  may  try,  perhaps,  to  hide  his  spirit  in 
his  language,  but  it  will,  if  he  speaks  much,  show  itself. 
If  language  has  this  spiritual  source  and  power,  it  de- 
serves the  greatest  attention,  for  profound  forces  are 
wrapped   up  in  it,  deep   influences  for  evil  or  for  good. 

'  "  Christian  Remembrancer,"  April,  i860,  p.  310. 


586  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

We  may  see  at  a  glance  that  if  there  is  this  profound 
spiritual  source  of  language,  the  spring  should  be  kept 
pure  for  the  sake  of  the  language,  which  is  its  true  result 
and  manifestation.  Professor  Whitney,  in  opposition  to 
Max  Miiller  and  some  of  the  German  writers,  regards  lan- 
guage as  a  moral  instead  of  a  physical  science  ;  and  he 
looks  upon  it  as  connected  more  with  the  spiritual  will 
than  with  the  physical  life.  Without  doubt,  because  it 
is  thus  so  deeply  associated  with  moral  responsibility, 
and  so  nearly  allied  to  the  soul  itself,  the  Saviour  said, 
"  For  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy 
words  thou  shalt  be  condemned."  Also  the  apostle 
James  said,  "  If  any  man  offend  not  in  word,  the  same  is 
a  perfect  man." 

The  following  is  a  characteristic  and  eloquent  passage 
on  the  "  Power  of  the  Tongue,"  by  Isaac  Barrow  : 
"  From  hence,  that  the  use  of  speech  is  itself  a  great  in- 
gredient into  our  practice,  and  hath  a  very  general  influ- 
ence upon  whatever  we  do,  may  be  inferred  that  whoso- 
ever governeth  it  well  cannot  also  but  well  order  his 
whole  life.  The  extent  of  speech  must  needs  be  vast, 
since  it  is  nearly  commensurate  to  thought  itself,  which 
it  ever  closely  traceth,  widely  ranging  through  all  the 
immense  variety  of  objects  ;  so  that  men  almost  as  often 
speak  incogitantly,  as  they  think  silently.  Speech  is  in- 
deed the  rudder  that  steereth  human  affairs  ;  the  spring 
that  setteth  the  wheels  of  action  on-going  ;  the  hands 
work,  the  feet  walk,  all  the  members  and  all  the  senses 
act  by  its  direction  and  impulse  ;  yea,  most  thoughts  are 
begotten,  and  most  affections  stirred  up  thereby  ;  it  is 
itself  most  of  our  employment,  and  what  we  do  beside  it 
is,  however,  guided  and  moved  by  it.  It  is  the  profession 
and  trade  of  many,  it  is  the  practice  of  all  men,  to  be  in 
a  manner  continually  talking.     The  chief  and  most  con- 


GENERAL    PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  5^7 

siderablc    sort    of   men    manage    all    their  concernments 
merely  by  words  ;  by  them  princes  rule   their  subjects, 
<Tenerals  command  their  armies,  senators  deliberate  and 
debate  about  great  matters  of  state  ;  by  them  advocates 
plead  causes,  and  judges  decide  them  ;  divines  perform 
their  ofifices,  and  minister  their  instructions  ;    merchants 
stock  up  their  bargains,    and   drive  on  all  their  traffic. 
Whatever,  almost,  great  or  small,  is  done  in  the  court  or 
in  the  hall,  in  the  church  or  at  the  exchange,  in  the  school 
or  in  the  shop,  it  is  the  tongue  alone  that  doth  it  ;   'tis 
the  force  of  this  little  machine  that  turneth  all  the  human 
world  about.     It  is  indeed  the  use  of  this  strange  organ 
which  rendereth  human   life   beyond   the  simple  life    of 
other  creatures,  so  exceedingly  various  and  compounded  ; 
which  creates  such  a  multiplicity  of  business  and  which 
transacts  it  ;  while  by  it  we  communicate  our  secret  con- 
ceptions, transfusing  them  into  others  ;  while  therewith 
we  instruct  and  advise  one  another  ;  while   we  consult 
about  what  is  to  be  done,  contest  about  right,  dispute 
about  truth  ;  while  the  whole  business  of  conversation,  of 
commerce,  of  government,  and  administration  of  justice, 
of  learning,  and  of    religion,   is  managed  thereby  ;  yea, 
while  it  stoppeth  the    gaps  of   time,  and  filleth    up  the 
wide  intervals  of  business,  our  recreations  and  divertise- 
ments  (the  which  do  constitute  a  great  portion  of  our  life) 
mainly  consisting  therein  ;  so  that,  in  comparison  thereof, 
the  execution  of  what  we  determine  and  all  other  actions 
do  take  up  small  room  ;  and  even  all  that  usually  depend- 
eth  upon  foregoing  speech,  which  persuadeth  or  counsel- 
eth,  or  commandeth  it.     Whence  the  province  of  speech 
being  so  very  large,  it  being  so   universally  concerned, 
either  immediately  as  the  matter,  or  by  consequence  as 
the  source  of  our  actions,  he  that  constantly  governeth  it 
well,  may  justly  be  esteemed  to  live  very  excellently." 


588  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

We  would,  therefore,  lay  down  the  simple  proposition, 
that  for  every   conceivable   reason,  whether  spiritual  or 
practical,  the  study  of  language  is  essential 
The  study     to  the  preacher— 

o    anguage        /    n   ^hat  languare  may  become  the  per- 
essential  ^      ■o  j  r 

to  the  ^^*"^  instrument  of  thought.  If  language  is 
preacher,  thus  vitally  related  to  spirit,  and,  therefore, 
to  thought,  it  becomes  the  preacher — whose 
duty  it  is  to  communicate  the  highest  and  most  spiritual 
thought  to  others — to  study  the  powers  and  adaptations 
of  language.  These  are  hidden  and  evasive.  There  is  a 
law  of  life  in  language,  which  is  exceedingly  subtle, 
and  which  cannot  be  grasped  by  the  unstudious  or  me- 
chanical mind.  This  is  the  acquisition  of  a  profoundly 
disciplined  perception.  While  the  philological  uses  of  a 
preacher's  special  study  of  language,  for  the  independent 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  and  for  all  scholarly  pur- 
poses, are  apparent,  it  is  not  of  this  aspect  of  language 
that  we  would  now  particularly  speak.  The  preacher 
should  study  language — language  itself,  not  languages— 
in  order  that  it  may  become  this  spiritual  manifestation 
or  power  ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  it  may  become  a  facile 
and  perfect  instrument  of  thought.  Such  is  the  divine 
use  of  language.  The  Word  of  God  is  the  perfect  instru- 
ment of  the  Spirit  of  God — "  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, 
which  is  the  Word  of  God."  And  this  higher  truth  re- 
specting the  word,  or  speech  of  God,  extends  even  to 
him  who  is  the  preacher  of  that  word  ;  for  he  who 
preaches  the  word  of  God  purely,  wields  "  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit."  There  is  a  spiritual  influence,  a  pure  power, 
that  moves  the  soul  and  accompanies  the  language  which 
springs  from  a  mind  striving  to  express  divine  truth  in  a 
way  that  shall  honor  it  and  worthily  present  it.  And  if 
the  human  preacher,  proclaiming  the  truth  purely,  is  thus 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  5S9 

permitted  to  wield  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  how  much 
more  should  his  language  become  the  sword  of  his  own 
spirit  !  The  word  should  be  born  with  the  thought. 
Language  should  be  the  perfect  instrument  of  the 
preacher's  own  mind,  doing  with  equal  facility  the  mighti- 
est and  most  delicate  acts  of  his  will.  Even  as  his 
thought  is,  even  as  his  inmost  soul  is,  so  should  his  lan- 
guage be.  The  spiritual  force  of  the  man  should  go  forth 
without  apparent  effort,  or  incongruity  of  his  words. 
Men  should  not  think  of  his  language,  how  beautiful  or 
how  strong  it  is,  but  should  see  himself  in  his  language, 
should  see  his  spirit.  To  designate  a  modern  writer  and 
preacher,  the  language  of  Dr.  Bushnell  is,  we  think,  in  a 
marked  degree,  the  manifestation  of  his  thought  ;  he 
brought  his  language  to  a  wonderful  accord  with  his 
inward  self.  His  style  might  not  be  considered  perfect, 
but  it  expressed  himself,  and  it  expressed  what  he  willed. 
His  mind  wielded  speech  as  a  strong,  swift  gymnast 
moves  his  limbs.  Thought  and  word  were  one  and 
indivisible — one  act.  He  made  language  a  study.  He 
appreciated  its  power,  and  sought  for  its  living  law. 
Everything  he  said,  therefore,  had  a  meaning,  and 
was  instinct  with  life.  His  use  of  words  is  at  the  same 
time  exact  and  carelessly  copious.  It  is  not  confined  to 
what  is  called  neatness  of  style,  but  it  has  those  higher 
qualities  of  power  which  require  a  wider  and  bolder  sway 
over  the  realm  of  language.  When  he  needs  a  strong 
word  or  phrase  for  his  purpose,  he  digs  it  up  like  a  rock 
out  of  the  earth,  and  hurls  it  with  all  its  ponderous 
weight.  When,  however,  he  wishes  to  express  an 
abstract  and  philosophical  idea,  instead  of  simplifying  it, 
and  bringing  it  down  to  the  level  of  the  unphilosophical 
mind,  he  avails  himself  freely  of  learning  and  of  accurate 
scientific  terminology,  knowing  that  there  is  an  instinct 


59°  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

in  the  appreciation  of  language  even  among  common 
men,  which  is  better  than  education.  In  a  word,  he  laid 
hold  of  anything  in  the  kingdom  of  language  which  served 
his  thought,  which  manifested  most  perfectly  the  force  and 
sagacity  of  his  spirit.  Another  instance  among  modern 
preachers  of  this  plastic  and  vital  use  of  language,  though 
not  with  the  peculiar  power  of  Dr.  Bushnell  in  this  one 
particular,  is  F.  W.  Robertson.  It  was  said  of  a  more 
ancient  preacher  still — Apollos — that  he  was  "  an  elo- 
quent man,"  referring,  doubtless,  to  this  power  of  expres- 
sion in  language.  The  preacher's  use  of  language  should 
have  all  the  naturalness  of  a  common  man's  speech,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  all  the  scholar's  command  of  the  higher 
and  more  hidden  resources  of  language  ;  its  exquisite 
adaptations  to  human  thought. 

(2.)  That  he  may  have  a  mastery  of  words.  The 
preacher's  use  of  language,  we  have  said,  should  have  all 
the  naturalness  of  a  common  man's  speech,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  all  the  scholar's  command  of  the  wide 
resources  of  language.  "  A  well-educated  person  in  Eng- 
land seldom  uses  more  than  about  three  thousand  or  four 
thousand  words  in  actual  conversation.  Accurate  think- 
ers and  close  reasoners,  who  avoid  vague  and  general 
expressions,  and  wait  till  they  find  the  word  that  exactly 
fits  their  meaning,  employ  a  larger  stock  ;  and  eloquent 
speakers  may  rise  to  a  command  of  ten  thousand. 
Shakespeare,  who  displayed  a  greater  variety  of  expres- 
sion than  probably  any  other  writer  in  any  language,  pro- 
duced all  his  plays  with  about  fifteen  thousand  words. 
Milton's  prose  works  are  built  up  with  eight  thousand  ; 
and  the  Old  Testament  says  all  that  it  has  to  say  with 
five  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-two  words."  '     How 


'  Max  MiiUer's  "  Science  of  Language,"  p.  266. 


GENERAL    PRINCIPLES  OF  K HE  TOPIC.  59 1 

shall  the  preacher  obtain  this  sway  over  the  wide  field  of 
language — how  shall  he  acquire  this  copious  vocabulary 
— unless  he  makes  language  a  special  study — language 
itself — the  powers,  resources,  and  wealth  of  words  ?  This 
is  a  broad  realm  ;  one  must  conquer  it  to  use  its  reve- 
nues. He  may  have  thought  and  learning,  he  may  have 
a  vivid  conception  of  truth  ;  but  unless  he  can  express 
his  thoughts,  unless  he  can  wield  this  instrument  of  the 
soul  with  freedom,  he  is  a  dumb  prophet,  he  is  an  inar- 
ticulate soul,  the  word  of  God  languishes  imprisoned 
w-ithin  him.  One  may  deal  too  exclusively  with  the  sub- 
stance, and  neglect  too  much  the  form  of  truth,  or  the 
harmonious  development  of  the  substance  and  the  form. 
The  language,  therefore,  of  some  preachers,  when  they 
begin  to  attempt  to  communicate  thought  to  other  minds, 
is  stiff,  mechanical,  unyielding.  They  are  not  masters  of 
expression.  The  living  power  of  words  is  not  theirs. 
Their  ideas  freeze  while  they  speak.  The  inward  con- 
ception finds  a  totally  inadequate  medium  of  representa- 
tion. There  is  no  vital  union  between  the  thought  and 
the  word  ;  so  that  the  style  has  either  the  appearance  of 
not  being  one's  own,  or  of  being  that  of  an  uncultivated 
mind  ;  which  impression,  in  either  case,  may  be  entirely 
false.  The  young  preacher  should  be  warned  of  his  de- 
ficiency in  time,  and  he  should  set  himself  about  correct- 
ing or  supplying  this  great  want  in  his  education,  or,  it 
may  be,  this  want  in  his  original  powers  of  expression,  for 
language  is  a  special  gift  ;  and  unless  he  does  this,  he 
can  hardly  become  a  natural  or  original  speaker  ;  for  if  a 
man  wishes  to  have  freshness  and  originality  of  style,  he 
must  master  language,  he  must  make  words  subservient 
to  his  will  ;  else  he  will  express  them  in  a  formal  style 
which  he  has  caught  from  others,  he  knows  not  how. 
He  cannot  be  original  unless  he  has  a  style  of  his  own,  as 


592  RHETORIC   APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

well  as  thoughts  of  his  own.  A  man's  style  of  writing  or 
speaking  may  not  be  a  good  one,  though  it  be  his  own  ; 
but  it  certainly  is  not  a  good  one  unless  it  is  his  own  ; 
unless  he  has  broken  loose  from  the  leading-strings  of 
imitation,  and  has  acquired  a  genuine,  unconscious  style 
of  his  own.  He  who  has  a  style  that  is  expressive  of  his 
own  mind  has  a  style  which  his  own  mind  will  look  and 
work  freely  in,  and  he  does  not  fight  in  Saul's  armor. 

(3.)  That  he  may,  above  all,  be  a  master  of  his  mother 
tongue.  How  can  one  become  possessor  of  a  natural, 
copious,  and  flexible  style,  which  is  the  genuine  in- 
vestiture of  his  thought,  until  he  thoroughly  under- 
stands the  genius  and  structure  of  the  language  in 
which  he  thinks  ?  As  it  is  now  satisfactorily  proved 
that  there  can  be  no  mixed  language,  though  one  lan- 
guage may  contribute  to  another,  how  important  that 
one  should  understand  his  own  !  Yet  it  is  a  singular  fact 
that  most  educated  men  study,  all  their  lives,  the  dead 
languages,  and  neglect  that  language  which  is  the  only 
living  one  to  them,  and  which  must  be  learned  in  its  own 
grammar,  history,  and  literature.  "  The  general  and 
obvious  distinction  between  the  grammar  of  the  English 
and  the  Continental  tongues  is,  that  whereas  in  the  latter 
the  relations  of  words  are  determined  by  their  form,  or 
by  a  traditional  structure  of  period  handed  down  from  a 
more  strictly  inflectional  phase  of  those  languages,  in 
English,  on  the  other  hand,  those  relations  do  not  indi- 
cate, but  are  deduced  from,  the  logical  categories  of  the 
words  which  compose  the  period,  and  hence  they  must  be 
demonstrated  by  a  very  different  process  from  that  which 
is  appropriate  for  syntaxes  depending  on  other  principles. 
A  truly  philosophical  system  of  English  syntax  cannot, 
then,  be  built  up  by  means  of  the  Latin  scaffolding  which 
has  served   for  the    construction    of   all    the    continental 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  593 

theories  of  grammar,  and  with  which  alone  the  literary 
public  is  familiar,  but  must  be  conceived  and  executed  on 
a  wholly  new  and  original  plan."  ' 

Some  of  the  purest  and  most  idiomatic  English  writers 
in  point  of  style  have  been  men  of  one  speech.  Shake- 
speare's "  small  Latin  and  less  Greek"  is  a  familiar  fact  ; 
and  in  the  same  category  may  be  reckoned  Izaak  Walton, 
Dean  Swift  (who  neglected  his  regular  academic  studies, 
and  applied  himself  mostly  to  the  reading  of  poetry), 
John  Bunyan,  Goldsmith  to  a  certain  extent,  and  De 
Foe  ;  and,  in  modern  times,  Dr.  Franklin,  Cobbett, 
Erskine,  Daniel  Webster,  Hugh  Miller.  These  men, 
with  one  or  two  exceptions,  knew  little  of  the  classics,  or 
of  any  language  other  than  their  own  ;  and  yet  with  what 
power  they  used  their  own  !  What  vigorous  English 
some  of  our  American  editors  employ  who  have  had  but 
a  brief  common-school  education  !  The  strength  that 
these  men  have,  as  writers  and  speakers,  comes  purely 
from  the  English  tongue  ;  and  this  shows  that  there  is 
an  original  power  in  our  language  which  does  not  depend 
upon  foreign  learning. 

To  apply  this  to  preaching,  how  often  do  we  observe 
in  the  preacher,  and  especially  in  the  young  preacher 
fresh  from  the  schools,  a  diction  which  is  inverted  and  / 
scholastic.  It  is  not  the  language  of  the  people,  the  lan- 
guage of  intelligent  merchants,  farmers,  mothers,  and  sen- 
sible ordinary--  people.  It  is  not  also  pure  English,  but  it 
is  in  some  sense  a  foreign  tongue.  Take  the  language  of 
most  of  the  earlier  New  England  preachers,  not  except- 
ing a  great  deal  of  the  writing  of  Jonathan  Edwards 
(though  it  appeared  less  in  him,  and  that  is  one  of  his 
many  claims  to  greatness),  and  what  a  barbarous  and  un- 


'  Marsh's  "  Eng.  Lang,  and  Early  Literature,"  Lee.  i.  p.  22. 


594  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

couth  dialect  it  was,  made  up  of  strained,  contorted  sen- 
tences, and  of  Latin  and  theological  terms  which  never 
were  nor  could  be  good  English,  such  as  "  effectuate," 
"  eventuate,"  "  exprobation,"  "vilipend,""  gripulous"  ! 
Cotton  Mather's  works  are  a  curious  study  (the  fruits  of 
the  study  of  which  are  to  be  seen  in  the  inimitable  "  Big- 
elow  Papers")  as  an  exhibition  of  the  distance  to  which  the 
English  tongue  could  be  conveyed  bodily  away  from  its 
own  forms,  and  still  remain  nominally  an  English  tongue 
— though  we  are  not  saying  that  there  does  not  remain  a 
great  deal  that  is  valuable  and  eloquent  in  the  writings 
of  the  New  England  fathers,  aside  even  from  Jonathan 
Edwards,  whose  works  have  peculiar  claims  of  their  own. 
But  this  pedantic  barbarism  of  dialect  is  not  confined  to 
New  England  or  to  ancient  times,  but  we  find  it  in  the 
English,  and  especially  the  Scotch  preachers  of  modern 
days — above  ail,  in  the  greatest  of  them,  in  Dr.  Chalmers, 
who  deliberately  coined  Latin-English  in  such  grotesque 
and  monstrous  words  as  "  insatisfaction,"  "  transcorpo- 
rated,"  "  ataxic,"  and  in  a  sentence  like  this,  which,  how- 
ever good  metaphysical  language,  is  too  scholastic  for  a 
sermon  :  "  Prayer  is  the  afferent  fibre,  and  sacrament  the 
efferent  fibre  of  the  religious  system." 

The  rapid  progress  of  science,  and  the  coining  of  new 
scientific  terms  into  the  language,  which  are  generally 
taken  from  the  Latin,  increases  this  barbarizing  tendency 
in  modern  English  speech,  and  for  which  the  pulpit  has  a 
fatal  proclivity. 

In  order  to  acquire  the  thorough  mastery  of  the  Eng- 
lish vocabulary  and  of  pure  English  idioms,  two  sources 
of  study  are  particularly  valuable,  viz.,  English  literature 
and  English  philology. 

(/?.)  English  literature.  Nothing  helps  to  make  us 
facile  and  ready  writers  more  than  a  rich  course  of  read- 


I 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  595 

ing  in  English  literature.  In  this  way  we  gain  a  copious 
style,  and  a  quick  perception  of  the  marvel-  p  ,•  ^ 
lous  powers  of  words.  Preachers  are  often  uterature. 
exceedingly  deficient  in  this  kind  of  literary 
culture,  and  that  is  one  of  the  causes  of  their  stiff  and  bar- 
ren style.  Their  English  reading  has  been  confined  exclu- 
sively to  professional  authors,  to  theological  works  whose 
style,  perhaps,  is  in  the  highest  degree  rigid,  and  devoid 
of  vital  beauty.  They  do  not  enter  the  broad  fields  of 
English  poetry,  drama,  history,  humor,  and  fiction.  A 
knowledge  of  English  literature  implies  a  universal  range 
of  authors,  and  excludes  anything  strictly  technical  or  pro- 
fessional. It  has  relations  to  humanity  generally,  rather 
than  to  any  particular  department  of  it.  And  what  lan- 
guage may  compare  with  the  English  in  this  vital  ele- 
ment, in  this  multiform  character,  in  this  wide  scope  of 
subjects  that  appeal  to  our  common  nature  ?  It  is  not 
merely  for  the  acquisition  of  new  knowledge,  but  of 
mental  self-culture,  of  spiritual  enriching  and  invigora- 
tion,  that  ministers  should  make  themselves  widely  ac- 
quainted with  the  treasures  of  English  literature.  "  Mere 
philological  or  etymological  learning  cannot  make  up 
for  this  want  of  general  literary  cultivation  and  read- 
ing. Dictionary  definitions,  considered  as  a  means  of 
philological  instruction,  are  as  inferior  to  miscellaneous 
reading  as  a  hortiis  siccus  to  a  botanic  garden.  Words 
exert  their  living  powers,  and  give  utterance  to  sentiment 
and  meaning,  only  in  the  organic  combinations  for  which 
nature  has  adapted  them,  and  not  in  the  alphabetic  sin- 
gle-file in  which  lexicographers  post  and  drill  them."  ' 
De  Quincey  says,  "  There  is,  first,  the  literature  of  knowl- 
edge, and,  secondly,  the  literature  of  power.     The  func- 


'  Marsh's  "  Eng.  Lang,  and  Early  Literature,"  p.  442. 


/ 


59^  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

tion  of  the  first  is  to  teach  ;  the  function  of  the  second  is 
to  move."  Apply  this  remark  to  Enghsh  hterature,  and 
what  names  of  Hving  power  start  up  !  They  show  us  that 
if  we  are  to  go  to  Greek  and  Latin,  German  and  French, 
for  our  learning,  we  need  not  step  out  of  the  charmed 
circle  of  English  literature  for  works  that  communicate 
power,  that  reach  the  springs  of  motive  and  action,  that 
educate  character  ;  for  there  is  a  spiritual  depth  and 
penetration  of  the  heart  in  English  literature  that  is  not 
to  be  found  elsewhere.  In  Carlyle's  words,  "  It  is  plant- 
ed in  man's  heart." 

We  should  endeavor  to  read  English  literature  upon 
some  plan  ;  we  should  divide  it  into  its  great  epochs, 
make  ourselves  acquainted  with  the  representative  authors 
of  each  epoch,  and  study  the  growth  and  changes  of  the 
language  from  its  origin  to  the  present  time. 

A  language  which  is  the  living  speech  of  80,000,000  of 
the  earth's  inhabitants,  and  which  promises  to  be  more 
widely  spread  than  any  other  tongue,  deserves  our  spe- 
cial study.  Every  new  age,  it  has  been  said,  has  some- 
thing new  in  it — it  takes  up  a  new  position.  English 
literature  really  began  with  Chaucer,  for  we  speak  now, 
essentially,  the  language  of  Gower,  Wyclif,  and  Chau- 
cer ;  but  the  English  language  became  a  universal  lan- 
guage, a  classical  tongue,  one  for  all  men,  with  Shake- 
speare. At  the  Restoration  and  through  the  eighteenth 
century,  though  gaining  in  variety,  ease,  and  pure 
idiomatic  style,  it  lost  the  vigor  of  the  great  Elizabethan 
period  ;  but  this  last  century,  commencing  with  Cowper 
and  Burns,  has  witnessed  a  reformation  in  English  litera- 
ture, and  a  return  to  nature  and  original  sources  of  power. 
The  latter  half  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  the  whole  of 
the  reign  of  James  I. — from  1580  to  1625 — a  half  century 
or  so,  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  civil  war,  witnessed  the 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  597 

flowering  of  English  literature  and  of  the  English  lan- 
guage, and  here  should  the  student  find  his  choicest  read- 
ing. Of  this  period  Lord  Jeffrey  said  :  "  In  point  of  real 
force  and  originality  of  genius,  neither  the  age  of  Pericles 
nor  the  age  of  Augustus,  nor  the  times  of  Leo,  or  of 
Louis  XIV.  can  come  at  all  into  comparison."  Of  prose 
writers,  Lord  Bacon  is  prince,  and  for  the  theologian, 
moralist,  and  preacher  he  is  one  of  the  richest  of  authors 
both  in  style  and  matter.  It  is  well  to  take  one  such 
author  as  the  representative  of  an  age,  and  try  to  read 
him  with  thoroughness,  with  all  the  helps  that  contem- 
poraneous history,  biography,  painting,  architecture,  mili- 
tary and  civil  records,  science,  philosophy  and  poetry  can 
afford  us,  and  from  him  as  a  centre  to  work  our  way  slow- 
ly around,  taking  in  the  works  of  his  contemporaries,  and 
thus  mastering  or  completing  the  literature  of  an  epoch 
from  some  advantageous  centre — a  better  plan  this  than 
to  read  in  a  regular  course,  which  is  wearisome  to  the 
most  persevering.  The  best  division  of  English  literature 
which  we  have  seen  is  that  of  Professor  Masson,  into 
three  great  epochs  :  I.  From  Chaucer  to  Dryden.  11. 
From  Dryden  inclusive  to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  III.  From  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century 
to  the  present  time.  But  it  does  not  lie  in  our  province 
to  discuss  at  length  English  literature.  While  prose  rep- 
resents, as  it  were,  the  masculine  element  in  literature, 
and  is  lord  and  keeper  of  the  house,  receiving  poetry  with- 
in it  as  a  graceful  guest  or  ornament  of  the  house,  yet  the 
preacher  should  not  neglect  the  great  poets  of  his  language 
— that  part  of  literature  which  Shelley  calls  "  the  record  of 
the  best  and  happiest  moments  of  the  best  and  happiest 
minds."  Poetry  is  more  essentially  vital  and  spiritual 
than  prose.  Emerson  says,  "  Poetry  is  the  perpetual 
endeavor  to  express  the  spirit  of  the  thing,  to  pass  the 


59^  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

brute  body  and  search  the  life  and  reason  which  causes  it 
to  exist — to  see  that  the  object  is  ahvays  flowing  away, 
whilst  the  spirit  or  necessity  which  causes  it  subsists." 
Religion  allies  itself  with  poetry  as  being  the  expression 
of  what  is  purest  and  most  ideal  in  mind,  and  he  who  has 
no  appreciation  of  poetry  loses  much  of  the  finer  appre- 
ciation of  Christ's  character,  words,  and  works.  There  is 
a  true  as  well  as  false  sentiment,  or  sentimentalism. 
Wordsworth  and  Tennyson  are  next  akin  in  high  thought 
to  the  best  divines  in  the  language.  The  preacher,  too, 
needs  to  cultivate  his  sympathetic  nature,  for  he  who  has 
no  power  of  sympathy  is  a  theological  cuttle-fish  who 
darkens  all  about  him  with  ink  and  nothing  else.  Poetry 
also  aids  the  preacher  to  develop  his  imagination  and 
his  invention,  both  of  which  lie  in  the  domain  of  repre- 
sentative literature.  The  reading  of  poetry,  or  good 
poetry,  tends  to  supple  the  mind,  to  make  it  quick  to  see 
resemblances,  and  to  express  mental  objects  in  vivid 
representations ;  to  combine,  fashion,  and  create  fresh 
forms  of  truth. 

In  regard  to  English  reading  for  the  purpose  of  liter- 
ary culture,  putting  aside  strictly  theological  literature, 
and  also  metaphysical  and  scientific  works,  which  will 
be  read  of  course — there  are  certain  books,  partly 
religious  and  partly  literary,  that  are  peculiarly  en- 
riching, such  as  the  works  of  some  of  the  old  Eng- 
lish divines,  especially  Richard  Hooker,  Jeremy  Tay- 
lor, Archbishop  Leighton,  Ralph  Cudworth,  adding, 
perhaps,  Chillingworth  and  Stillingfleet.  The  writings  of 
Lord  Bacon  have  just  that  mingling  of  the  philosophic 
and  literary  qualities  which  make  their  reading  most  nour- 
ishing intellectually.  Bacon's  Essays,  if  nothing  else, 
should  be  much  in  our  hands.  Coleridge's  prose  writings, 
especially  his  "  Aids  to  Reflection,"  also  combine  rarely 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  599 

the  literary  and  philosophic  characteristics.  Of  historical 
works  Gibbon's  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire" is  a  rich  continent  of  learning  transfused  by  the 
more  personal  literary  element,  sometimes,  it  is  true,  of 
the  cynical  and  virulent  sort,  but  perhaps  on  that  account 
the  more  interesting  in  a  psychological  point  of  view. 
Such  books  as  Grote's  "History  of  Greece,"  Hallam's 
"  Middle  Ages,"  Robertson's  "  Charles  the  Fifth,"  Bur- 
net's "History  of  His  Own  Time  ;"  Clarendon's,  Hume's, 
Macaulay's,  Lingard's,  Froude's,  and  Green's  Histories 
of  England,  Freeman's,  Motley's,  Prescott's,  and  Ban- 
croft's historical  writings,  there  is  hardly  need  to  men- 
tion. 

Of  biographies  Boswell's  "  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson,"  Car- 
lyle's  "  Frederick  the  Great,"  Lockhart's  "  Life  of  Wal- 
ter Scott,"  Campbell's  "  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors," 
Stanley's  "  Life  of  Dr.  Arnold,"  "  Macaulay's  Life  and 
Letters,"  and  a  score  of  others  that  might  be  noticed 
could  not  be  omitted. 

Of  poetry,  fiction,  drama,  and  art— those  works  which 
forrh  especially  "the  literature  of  power" — we  cannot 
here  enter  into  the  vastly  rich  fields.  We  are  not  in  favor 
of  spending  much  time  upon  works  which  do  not  task  the 
mind,  and  of  unduly  feeding  the  imagination  ;  but  he 
who  neglects  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Chaucer,  Words- 
worth, turns  aside  from  that  which  feeds  the  divinest 
part  of  his  nature.  Walter  Scott  and  Charles  Kingsley, 
George  Eliot  and  Thackeray,  have  also  their  claim.  The 
modern  novel  has  in  some  sense  taken  the  place  of  the 
moral  essay  in  the  Queen  Anne  epoch,  and  even  of  the 
older  English  drama.  It  not  only  paints  life  and  society, 
but  analyzes  action  and  character.  There  is  little  fear 
now  that  Carlyle  will  be  copied  in  his  style— indeed  no 
one  could  imitate  it  successfully — but  the  reaction  against 


6oo  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

his  aristocratic  intellcctualism  and  arrogant  spleen  will  go 
by,  and  what  is  immortal  in  his  scorn,  and  true  in  his 
sophism,  and  stimulating  in  his  truth,  will  remain. 

It  would  be  an  invaluable  study,  leaving  a  profound 
influence  on  the  mind  as  a  process  of  culture,  deepening 
the  power  of  thought  and  expression,  for  one  to  read 
Taine's  "  History  of  English  Literature"  (a  remarkable 
book  in  spite  of  its  materialistic  philosophy  and  glaring 
faults,  considering  that  it  was  the  work  of  a  foreigner 
and  a  Frenchman),  and  to  take  up  the  various  English 
authors  as  he  mentions  them  in  their  order  of  time,  read- 
ing, under  his  direction  and  guidance,  ample  selections 
from  their  best  works.  This  of  course  would  be  a  pro- 
cess of  years,  but  it  would  mingle  pleasure  and  culture  in 
a  wonderful  degree.  Shakespeare  alone  would  afford 
ceaseless  study.  The  man  pursuing  this  course  would  be 
a  richer  man,  and  the  preacher  a  richer  preacher.  The 
humane  and  genial  side  of  his  nature  would  be  developed  ; 
yet,  as  serious  professional  men,  with  a  great  object  of 
life  before  us,  our  chief  reading  should  be  of  a  solid  sort. 
There  is  a  period  of  life  which  may  be  called  the  omnivo- 
rous period,  when  one  should  read  pretty  much  everything; 
but  after  that,  his  reading  must  necessarily  be  more  select 
and  scientific.  F.  W.  Robertson  said,  "  I  read  hard  or 
not  at  all — never  skimming,  never  turning  aside  to  many 
inviting  books  ;  and  Plato,  Aristotle,  Butler,  Thucydides, 
Jonathan  Edwards,  have  passed  like  the  iron  atoms  of 
the  blood  into  my  mental  constitution."  Yet  our  present 
point,  be  it  remembered,  is  not  theological  and  profes- 
sional reading — but  purely  literary  reading. 

But  in  order  to  obtain  a  thorough  knowl- 
h'l  1  edge  and  real  mastery  of  the   English  lan- 

guage, it  is  necessary  to  give  some  serious 
attention  (^.)  to  English  philology.     This  is  the  study 


GENERAL   rRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  60 1 

of  the  structural  character  of  the  language,  its  historical 
changes,  and  its  practical  analysis.  To  do  this  one  must 
go  to  the  very  roots  of  the  language,  to  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
and  observe  the  influence  of  the  changes  of  form  upon 
thought,  and  the  introduction  of  new  foreign  elements 
that  were  grafted  upon  the  old  Germanic  stock. 

Perhaps  no  language  is  entirely  pure,  and  the  English 
language  (comprehending,  it  is  said,  twenty-three  idioms, 
ancient  and  modern)  is  the  least  so  of  all  ;  yet,  notwith- 
standing its  composite  character,  it  has  sturdily  maintained 
the  essential  character  of  its  Gotho-Germanic  parent  stem. 
There  we  should  go  to  study  it,  not  merely  in  its  distinct- 
ive Anglo-Saxon,  but  in  its  more  continental  Low  German 
(Platt-Deutsch)  sounds.  "  The  English  language  is  sim- 
ply Low-Dutch,  with  a  very  small  Welsh,  and  a  v^ery  large 
Romance,  infusion  into  its  vocabulary.  The  Low-Dutch 
of  the  continent,  so  closely  cognate  with  our  own  tongue, 
is  the  natural  speech  of  the  whole  region  from  Flanders 
to  Holstein,  and  it  has  been  carried  by  conquest  over  a 
large  region,  original  Sclavonic,  to  the  further  east.  But 
hemmed  in  by  Romance,  High-Dutch,  and  Danish,  it  is 
giving  way  at  all  points,  and  it  is  only  in  Holland  that  it 
survives  as  a  literary  language.  It  should  always  be 
borne  in  mind  that  our  affinity  in  blood  and  language  is 
in  the  first  degree  with  the  Low-Dutch,  in  the  second 
degree  with  the  Danish.  With  the  High-Dutch,  the 
German  of  modern  literature,  we  have  no  direct  connec- 
tion at  all."  '  Other  foreign  elements  come  in  later,  and 
especially  the  Latin  or  French  element. 

The  French  usurped  the  place  of  the  English  language 
for  nearly  three  hundred  years  after  the  Norman  con- 
quest.   There  were  great  changes  in  the  English  language 


'  Freeman's  "  Norman  Conquest,"  v.  i.  p.  14. 


602  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

between  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  and  the  mid- 
dle of  the  fourteenth.  French  became  the  court  lan- 
guage, the  language  of  law,  the  language  of  devotion 
and  literature.  There  was  a  jargon  of  French  and  Eng- 
lish spoken,  corrupting  the  native  tongue.  In  the  thir- 
teenth and  fourteenth  centuries  this  evil  was  at  its 
height,  but  the  tide  began  slowly  to  turn  in  favor  of  the 
original  speech.  "  It  was  a  sign  that  the  English  tongue 
was  again  looking  up,  when,  early  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, a  bishop  wrote  a  devotional  work  in  English  for  the 
use  of  a  sisterhood  of  nuns.  But,  in  so  doing,  he  brought 
into  his  work  a  crowd  of  foreign  words  which  had  not 
shown  themselves  in  English  before,  but  which  have 
stayed  in  our  tongue  ever  since.  The  greater  learning  of 
the  clergy,  their  greater  intercourse  with  other  parts  of 
the  world  was,  from  one  point  of  view,  one  of  the  better 
results  of  the  conquest.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
it  led  to  a  vast  inroad  of  foreign  words  into  our  religious 
and  devotional  speech.  Even  the  Lord's  prayer  and  the 
Belief  have  not  escaped  ;  and  that  venerable  relic  of  our 
ancient  tongue,  that  old-world  form — that  lex  Jiorrcndi 
carminis — in  which  English  men  and  Englishwomen  have 
been  joined  in  wedlock  for  a  thousand  years,  has  not 
escaped  the  presence  of  a  single  stranger  in  the  foreign 
word  endow.  Throughout  the  thirteenth  century  new 
foreign  words  were  dropping  in  ;  in  the  fourteenth 
they  came  in  with  a  rush.  By  the  end  of  that  century- 
English  had  won  its  final  victory  ;  but  the  Parthian 
shafts  of  the  defeated  enemy  had  done  the  conqueror  the 
deadliest  of  harm  in  the  very  moment  of  his  conquest."  ' 
It  has  been  said  that  our  language  has  gained  in  variety 
and  flexibility  by  the  introduction  of  French  and  foreign 


'  Freeman's  "  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest,"  vol.  v.  p.  545. 


GENERA!.    PJRINC/Pr.ES   OF  RHETORIC.  603 

words  into  it,  but  this,  according  to  Mr.  Freeman,  is  very 
doubtful.  "  The  foreign  words  which  have  poured,  and 
are  still  pouring,  into  our  language,  are  poor  substitutes 
for  the  treasures  of  ancient  speech  which  wc  have  cast 
away."  The  power  of  the  English  tongue  also,  which  it 
possessed  so  amply  in  the  eleventh  century,  to  make  and 
combine  new  words,  has  been  forever  lost. 

There  are  three  great  sources  or  treasuries  of  the  Eng- 
lish language  in  a  philological  as  well  as  a  literary  point 
of  view  ;  and  especially  of  its  idiomatic  Anglo-Saxon  ele- 
ment, which  every  one  who  wishes  to  have  a  pure  and 
vigorous  English  style  should  endeavor  to  make  himself 
familiar  with — the  works  of  Chaucer,  of  Shakespeare,  and 
of  the  English  Bible.  We  mention  them  together  chiefl}' 
in  respect  of  their  language, 

I.  Chaucer.  The  study  of  Chaucer  forms,  perhaps, 
our  best  introduction  to  the  study  of  the  Saxon  element 

in  our  language  ;  for,  although  great  changes 

"^     *'  .       f     *^  ^  Chaucer, 

had  already  taken  place  in  his  day,  yet  Chau- 
cer is  in  one  sense  the  creator  of  the  English  tongue  ;  he 
first  moulded  it  into  the  forms  of  literature.  Whatever 
remained  of  the  Saxon  after  the  Norman-French  had 
been  ingrafted  upon  it,  and  in  some  respects  had  fatally 
supplanted  or  outgrown  it,  he  used  with  freedom  and 
vigor.  It  forms  still  the  staple  of  his  language,  and  as 
his  genius  fixed  the  language  in  its  forms  of  grammar  and 
literature,  the  Saxon  element  did  not,  after  him,  yield  to 
any  extraneous  influences.  We  may,  indeed,  set  it  down 
as  an  axiom  capable  of  the  fullest  proof,  that  Chaucer's 
grammatical  use  of  the  language  did  not  materially  differ 
from  its  present  use.  Most  of  the  essential  grammatical 
changes  from  the  ancient  Saxon  had  already  taken  place  ; 
although  Dr.  Johnson  pronounced  it  impossible  to  ascer- 
tain precisely  when  our  speech  ceased  to  be  Saxon,  and 


6o4  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

when  it  began  to  be  genuine  English.  But  the  language 
of  Chaucer  is  substantially  our  language  ;  and  the  true 
conservative  influence,  or  the  radically  assimilating  and 
unifying  principle,  in  our  tongue,  now,  as  it  was  in  his 
day,  is  its  Saxon  element  :  that  is  the  substratum  which 
it  is  impossible  to  disintegrate,  and  which  has  never  given 
way  to  the  influences  of  conquest  ;  it  is  therefore  well 
worth  our  study.  "  Philosophy  and  science,  and  the  arts 
of  high  civilization,  find  their  utterance  in  the  Latin 
words,  or,  if  not  in  the  Latin,  in  the  Greek.  One  part 
of  the  language  is  not  to  be  cultivated  at  the  expense  of 
the  other  ;  the  Saxon  at  the  cost  of  the  Latin,  as  little  as 
the  Latin  at  the  cost  of  the  Saxon."  '  But  when  a  Latin 
and  a  Saxon  word  offered  themselves  for  choice,  Trench 
would  have  us  take  the  Saxon.  "  But  when  we  come  to 
the  words  which  indicate  different  states,  emotions,  pas- 
sions, mental  processes — all,  in  short,  that  expresses  the 
moral  or  intellectual  man — the  Anglo-Saxon  vocabulary 
is  eminently  affluent."  ^  De  Ouincey  says,  "  Pathos,  in 
situations  which  are  homely,  or  at  all  connected  with 
domestic  affections,  naturally  moves  in  Saxon  words. 
And  why  ?  Because  the  Saxon  is  the  aboriginal  element 
— the  basis,  not  the  superstructure  ;  consequently  it  com- 
prehends all  the  ideas  which  are  natural  to  the  heart  of 
man,  and  to  the  elementary  situations  of  life."  What- 
ever, then,  we,  as  preachers,  may  draw  from  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  element  of  the  language,  we  thereby  gain  in  the 
vocabulary  of  the  heart.  One  cannot  move  men  to  tears 
in  the  Johnsonian  style  ;  and  the  preacher  needs  to  learn 
this  simple  language  of  feeling. 

2.   Shakespeare.     We  cannot  enter  into  the  wide  sub- 
ject   of   the    uses    of  the  study  of  "  the  myriad-minded 


'  Trench's  "  English  Past  and  Present,'"  p.   34. 
*  Marsh's  "  Eng.  Lang,  and  Lit.,"  p.  94. 


GEXERAL   PRiyCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  605 

bard"  to   the  preacher,  as  an   aid   in  the  knowledge  of 
human  nature,  and  as  a  guide  to  the  depths  ghakespeare. 
of  our  moral  being.     Dr.  Emmons,  the  in- 
carnation of  the  logical  intellect,  read   Shakespeare,  he 
himself  says,  as  a  help  in  his  preaching,  and  in  the  study 
of  the  human  heart.     The  moral  element  lies  at  the  basis 
of  Shakespeare's  greatness  ;    and   it   is  this  ethical  and 
heart-searching  quality,    at  the   same    time    penetrating 
and  genial,  wonderfully  discerning,  yet  healing  and  lov- 
ing all,  that  makes  him  the  poet  of  universal  humanity. 
Even  Goethe  describes  German,  or  in  his  classical  works 
a   sort    of    copied    Greek    nature,    and    Homer    himself 
describes  Greek— the  Greek  type  of  human  nature,  war- 
like,   fierce,    sensuous,    eloquent,     dissimulating,     loving 
beauty,  song,  and  art  ;  but  Shakespeare's  personages  arc 
men  and  women  with  the  universal  instincts  of  humanity, 
not  English  humanity  merely,  but  that  which  might  have 
lived,  and  loved,  and  suffered,  and  sinned,  in  any  age  or 
in  any  clime  in  which  the  race  has  existed,  or  shall  exist. 
There  was  in  the  poet   himself   a  mental  completeness 
—of  "  imagination   all  compact  ;"  of  intellectual  depth 
and  subtlety,  as  seen  in  the  philosophic  grasp  of  Hamlet  ; 
of  moral  scope  and  apprehension,  understanding  intuitive- 
ly the  different  states  of  human  life,  the  masculine  and  the 
feminine  natures,  and  the  finest  relations  of  the  human 
will  to  the  events  and  laws  of  the  universe,  so  that  "  all 
humanity  was  mirrored  in  the  individual."     Shakespeare 
paints  man  and  develops  character,  not  as  other  artists, 
by  working    upon  philosophical  principles,  upon  theory 
merely,  so  that  this  person  or  that  person  is  the  embodi- 
ment of  special  character  ;  but  he  views  man  as  a  whole, 
with   blendings   of   good    and    evil,    wisdom    and    folly, 
strength  and  weakness  ;  swayed  now  by  this  motive  and 
now  by  that  ;  capable  of  vast  effort,  but  perishing  before 


6o6  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

the  moth  ;  a  creature  of  heaven  and  earth  ;  a  behig  of 
passions,  impulses,  sympathies,  attractions,  as  well  as  of 
rational  judgments,  and  as  diversified  and  unaccount- 
able as  the  universe  he  lives  in  ;  not  exhausting  any 
character,  but  letting  him  act  fragmentarily,  as  he  does 
in  actual  life,  and  as  he  does  in  the  Bible,  which  book 
there  is  no  doubt  Shakespeare  studied,  and  which  is 
the  only  perfect  transcript  of  man,  because  man's  spirit 
is  a  great  deep,  and  is  supernatural  and  immortal. 
Ulrici,  the  German  critic  of  Shakespeare,  says  that  it  is 
wonderful  that  a  man  who  possessed  such  depths  of 
passion  and  knowledge  of  sin,  could  have  so  controlled 
his  life  as  to  have  been  always,  as  he  seems  to  have 
been,  at  least  after  his  youthful  period,  respected  and 
beloved.  He  says  that  his  spirit,  and  his  spiritual  idea 
of  God  and  man,  was  decidedly  Protestant,  contrary  to 
the  narrower  judgment  of  Carlyle.  Goethe  says,  "You 
would  think,  while  reading  his  plays,  that  you  stood  be- 
fore the  enclosed  awful  books  of  fate,  while  the  whirlwind 
of  most  impassioned  life  was  howling  through  the  leaves, 
and  tossing  them  fiercely  to  and  fro." 

But  the  study  of  Shakespeare  in  his  use  of  language,  of 
the  English  tongue,  in  what  has  been  called  "  his  match- 
less use  of  words,"  is  what  we  would  now  specially 
notice.  We  find  that  the  Saxon  was  also  the  substratum 
of  his  style.  He  is  said  to  have  sixty  per  cent  of  native 
Saxon  words,  and  the  English  Bible  has  about  the  same. 
Milton  has  less  than  thirty-three  per  cent.  Shakespeare 
had,  as  before  remarked,  a  comparatively  restricted 
vocabulary,  not  exceeding,  it  is  said,  fifteen  thousand 
words.  His  affluence  of  language,  according  to  Marsh, 
arises  from  his  variety  of  combination,  rather  than  his 
numerical  abundance  of  words  ;  he  stood  at  the  culmina- 
tion of  the  strength  and  richness  of  the   English  tongue, 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  607 

after  Spenser  and  many  skillful  writers  since  Chaucer's 
day  had  moulded  and  refined  it  ;  and  yet  it  had  not  lost 
its  simple  English  character.  The  naturalness,  sweet- 
ness, expression,  and  force  of  Shakespeare's  language 
sprang  from  this  source.  But  he  also  understood  how  to 
use  the  resources  of  the  classical  words  of  the  language, 
in  order  to  give  variety,  elegance,  and  a  lofty  majesty 
to  his  thought.  Shakespeare  proved  that  the  English 
language  is  the  finest  instrument  of  thought  man  ever 
had — capable  of  the  most  varied  expression,  whether  it 
takes  the  form  of  precise  thinking,  or  of  the  highest 
soarings  of  the  imagination.  There  is  a  spiritual  quality 
in  the  English  which  no  other  language  possesses  in  an 
equal  degree  ;  and  this  has  always  been  its  characteristic, 
for  a  language  expresses  the  history  and  spirit  of  a  race  ; 
and  in  the  English  race,  with  all  its  grossness  and  earthli- 
ness,  the  moral  and  spiritual  element  has  predominated. 
"  It  is  in  this  inherited  quality  of  moral  revelation,  which 
has  been  perpetuated  and  handed  down  from  the  tongue 
of  the  Gothic  conquerors  to  its  English  first-born,  that 
lies,  in  good  part,  the  secret  of  Shakespeare's  power  of 
bodying  forth  so  much  of  man's  internal  being,  and  cloth- 
ing so  many  of  his  mysterious  sympathies  in  living 
words."'  We  doubt  whether  so  great  a  genius  as 
Shakespeare,  or  even  a  greater,  if  we  could  conceive  of 
such,  could  have  written  his  dramas  in  the  French  lan- 
guage. And  Shakespeare  must  have  fully  appreciated 
the  moral  richness  and  power  of  his  mother  tongue,  to 
use  it  as  he  did  ;  for  the  opinion  that  prevailed  so  long, 
that  he  was  simply  a  poet  of  nature,  without  art — 
born,  not  made — while  in  one  sense  true,  in  another  is 
not  true.      He  was  a  transcendent  genius,  but  he  shows 

'  Marsh's  "  English  Language,"  p.  94. 


6o8  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

everywhere  the  artist  ;  though  perhaps  there  never  was 
an  artist  who  wrought  less  on  established  rules.  In  fact 
he  illustrates  his  own  subtle  words  : 

"  This  is  an  art 
Which  doth  mend  nature — change  it,  rather,  but 
The  art  itself  is  nature."  ' 

What  is  the  secret  of  the  wonderful  freshness  of 
Shakespeare's  language,  so  that  it  is  always  new,  always 
wet  with  the  morning  dew,  when  the  works  of  other  great 
authors  grow  obsolete  ?  This  is  a  question  worthy  of  our 
special  study.  The  language  of  the  poet  is  so  com- 
pletely the  expression  of  his  mind  that  we  think  of  the 
beauty  of  the  thought,  and  are  moved  by  the  pathos  and 
power  of  what  is  said,  but  we  never  think  of  the  language 
itself,  unless,  indeed,  we  study  it.  This  is  the  perfection 
of  language  ;  this  is  to  have  the  language  one  with  the 
thought,  the  true  expression  of  the  spirit.  In  his  lan- 
guage we  look  upon  the  real  mind  or  spirit  of  Shake- 
speare, unconfused  by  the  medium  through  which  it  is 
expressed.  That,  surely,  is  one  of  the  great  sources  of 
his  power.  While  thus  a  limpid  expression  of  his 
thought,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  all  of  Shakespeare's 
language  has  this  achromatic  character.  It  is  sometimes 
obscure,  dark,  difficult  to  be  understood  ;  but  that  springs 
from  the  depth  of  the  thought,  and  not  from  the 
obscurity  of  the  language.  Here  the  language  suits  the 
thought,  and  is  born  with  it. 

Shakespeare's  style,  contrary  to  the  prevailing  canon 
of  literary  taste  at  the  present  day,  is  highly  metaphorical. 
Oftentimes  his  most  profound  and  exquisite  thinking 
utters  itself  in  this  way  ;  and  although  it  may  be  called 


'  "  Winter's  Tale,"  iv.  3. 


GENERAL   PRINCirLES   OF  RHETORIC.  609 

the  language  of  poetry,  yet  it  is  a  question  whether  the 
total  disregard  of  the  metaphorical  style  of  thought — a 
style  which  springs  from  the  closest  relations  of  nature  to 
the  mind — is  not  a  loss  of  vital  power  in  style. 

3.  The  English  Bible.  It  is  wonderful  how  the  Eng- 
lish translators  of  the  Bible  struck  the  golden  mean  be- 
tween the    Latin    and    the    original  Saxon.  ^^    ^     ... 

*'  The  English 

"  There  was,  indeed,  something  still  deeper        Bible. 

than  love  of  sound  and  genuine  English  at 
work  in  our  translators,  whether  they  were  conscious  of 
it  or  not,  which  hindered  them  from  sending  the  Scrip- 
tures to  their  fellow-countrymen  dressed  out  in  a  semi- 
Latin  garb.  The  Reformation,  which  they  were  in  this 
translation  so  mightily  strengthening  and  confirming, 
was  just  a  throwing  off,  on  the  part  of  the  Teutonic 
nations,  of  that  everlasting  pupilage  in  which  Rome 
would  have  held  them  ;  an  assertion,  at  length,  that  they 
were  come  to  full  age,  and  that  not  through  her,  but 
directly  through  Christ,  they  would  address  themselves 
unto  God.  The  use  of  the  Latin  language  as  the  lan- 
guage of  worship,  as  the  language  in  which  the  Scriptures 
might  alone  be  read,  had  been  the  great  badge  of  servi- 
tude, even  as  the  Latin  habits  of  thought  and  feeling 
which  it  promoted  had  been  the  great  helps  to  the  continu- 
ance of  this  servitude  through  long  ages.  It  lay  deep  in 
the  very  nature  of  their  course  that  the  reformers  should 
develop  the  Saxon,  or  essentially  national,  element  in  the 
language."  ' 

The  King  James  version  was  completed  and  published 
in  161 1.  In  the  great  religious  controversies  at  and  after 
that  period,  this  version  became  the  quoted  authority, 
the  standard  of  appeal  ;  and  thus  it  planted  itself  deep 


'  "  English,  Past  and  Present,"  p.  39. 


6lO  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

in  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  people,  so  that  not  only  in 
a  spiritual,  but  linguistic  point  of  view,  it  has  exerted  a 
more  shaping  influence  on  our  language  than  any  other 
volume.  If  Chaucer  was  the  harbinger,  the  English  Bible 
was  the  finisher  or  perfecter,  of  the  English  language.  It 
is  not  merely  the  colloquial  language,  nor  merely  the 
book  language  ;  it  is  rather  the  popular  religious  lan- 
guage, or  the  choice  phraseology  of  the  best  Christian 
minds  of  the  nation.  England  had  been  Protestant  for 
nearly  a  century  when  our  English  version  was  made,  and 
Wyclif's,  Tyndale's,  Matthews',  Coverdale's,  and  Cran- 
mer's  translations  had  been  in  the  hands  of  the  people, 
the  first  of  them  from  the  fourteenth  century.  Our  ver- 
sion was  not  a  new  one,  but  was  founded  upon  those  pre- 
vious translations,  with  but  slight  changes  of  expression, 
so  that  it  marks  the  growth  and  perfection  of  the  lan- 
guage during  its  whole  formative  period.  It  looks  far 
back,  as  well  as  far  forward  ;  it  stretches  over  the  entire 
history  of  the  English  language  ;  it  embodies  essentially 
the  best  speech  of  the  English  people  during  at  least  five 
centuries  ;  it  is  the  most  genuine  English  since  the  time 
when  the  English  language  became  the  real  expression  of 
English  thought  ;  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the 
best  usage  of  words  at  this  moment  is  more  nearly  assim- 
ilated to  the  style  of  the  English  version  of  the  Bible  than 
it  was  a  century  or  two  centuries  ago,  showing  that  the 
English  Bible  exerts  a  constant  attraction  and  conservative 
influence  upon  the  language.  In  many  points  of  correct 
scholarship  and  interpretation  it  is  confessedly  faulty,  and 
it  has  undergone  thorough  and  careful  emendation  in  the 
"  Revised  version"  of  i88i,  but  we  cannot  get  far  away 
from  it  and  still  be  English.  No  version  of  the  Bible 
which  has  since  been  made  can  compare  with  it  in 
nobility^  sweetness,  and  spiritual  force  ;  for  a  translation 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  6il 

should  have  something  more  than  correctness  in  order 
to  be  true,  since  the  very  spirit  escapes  in  a  literal 
and  inelegant  version.  It  is,  we  think,  not  one  of  the 
least  advantages  of  our  profession,  even  in  a  rhetorical 
point  of  view,  that  we  are  driven  to  the  constant  reading 
and  study  of  the  English  Bible.  It  should  exert  a  strong 
influence  upon  our  style  ;  ought  we  not  to  study  it  con- 
tinually, even  for  that  purpose?  Coleridge  said,  "In- 
tense study  of  the  Bible  will  keep  any  writer  from  being 
vulgar  in  point  of  style."  It  will  also  enrich  and  invigo- 
rate, for  there  is  just  that  mingling  of  prose  and  poetry  in 
the  Bible  which  marks  the  highest  and  richest  character 
in  style.  "  We  should  take  this  silent  warning  from  the 
pages  of  revelation,  and  combine  in  our  literary  culture 
the  same  elements  of  the  actual  and  the  imaginative."  ' 

In  addition  to  what  has  been  said  of  the  literary  and 
philological  study  of  our  language,  we  would  remark  that 
it  should  be  studied  as  it  is  used  among  liv- 
ing men,  we  misfht  add  of  livincf  women  also.       ^  anguage 
^,  .  \  r  of  living 

This  we  have  before  urged.      As  preachers,  ^^^ 

we  are  called  upon  to  leave  the  language  of 
books,  and  to  take  up  that  of  living  men,  purified  of  its 
debasements.  We  are  to  study  the  speech  of  intelligent 
men  and  women  as  we  hear  it  every  day  by  the  hearth, 
in  the  streets,  and  by  the  way.  "  Grammaticasters  seek 
the  history  of  language  in  written,  and  especially  in  ele- 
gant, literature  ;  but,  except  in  the  fleeting  dialect  of 
pedants,  linguistic  change  and  progress  begin  in  oral 
speech  ;  and  it  is  long  before  the  pen  takes  up  and  re- 
cords the  forms  and  words  which  have  become  established 
in  the  living  tongue.  If  you  would  know  the  present 
tendency  of   English,  go,  as   Luther  did,  to   the  market 


'  Reed's  "  Eng.  Lit.,"  p.  75. 


6l2  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACIIIXG. 

and  the  workshop  ;  you  will  there  hear  new  words  and 
combinations  which  orators  and  poets  will  adopt  in  a 
future  generation,"  '  We  are,  if  possible,  to  get  hold  of 
the  spoken  language.  We  should  possess  a  medium  of 
communication  with  the  common  heart.  Augustine  went 
so  far,  when  preaching  to  the  colonial  inhabitants  of 
Africa,  as  to  speak  their  broken  Latin  to  them.  We 
should  rid  ourselves,  as  far  as  possible,  of  the  language  of 
scholars,  while  at  the  same  time  we  retain  the  purifying 
and  elevating  influences  of  true  scholarship.  Old  Roger 
Ascham's  rule  was  "  to  speak  like  a  common  man,  and 
think  like  a  wise  man."  A  preacher  who  cannot  talk  to 
the  people  so  that  they  can  understand  him  is  stopped  at 
the  threshold  of  his  ministry. 

In  conclusion,  let  the  preacher  first  have  the  truth,  and 
then  know  how  to  express  it.  Let  him  not  neglect  the 
last,  while  acquiring  the  first.  Let  him  fill  his  soul  with 
the  truth  and  then  seek  to  make  it  known  to  men.  This 
can  be  done  alone  through  language.  Language  makes 
the  word  ''  the  preached  word,"  the  living  word,  which 
is  able  to  save  men's  souls. 

Sec.   26.    Taste  in  Preaching. 

Taste  has  been  defined  as  "  that   faculty  of  the  mind 

which  enables  it  to  perceive,  with  the  aid   of  reason   to 

judge  of,  and  with  the  help  of  imagination 
Definition  . 

of  taste       ^^  Giijoy^  whatever  is  beautiful  or  sublime  m 

the  works  of   nature  and  art."  ^     It   aims  to 

establish  correct  principles  of  knowledge  and  criticism  in 

relation  to  the  production  of  the  beautiful   in  art.      Car- 

lyle  says  in  his  strong  way  :   "  Taste,  if  it  mean  anything 

but  a  paltry  connoisseurship,  must  mean  a  general  sus- 

'  Marsh's  "  Eng.  Lang,  and  Lit.,"  p.  452. 
-  Quackenbos's  "  Rhetoric,"  p.  170. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLED   OF  RHETORIC.  613 

ceptibility  to  truth  and  nobleness  ;  a  sense  to  discern, 
and  a  heart  to  love  and  reverence,  all  beauty,  order, 
goodness,  wheresoever  and  in  whatsoever  forms  and  ac- 
complishments they  are  to  be  seen.  This  surely  implies, 
as  its  chief  condition,  not  any  given  external  rank  or 
situation,  but  a  finely  gifted  mind,  purified  into  harmony 
with  itself,  into  keenness  and  justice  of  vision,  above  all, 
kindled  into  love  and  generous  admiration." 

Preaching  would  be  debased  by  calling  it  an  aesthetical 
art  ;  yet  aesthetical  principles  must  more  or  less  enter 
into  it,  so  far  as  it  may  come  under  rhetorical  rules  ;  and 
there  is  the  more  need  of  attending  to  these  principles 
of  good  taste  in  preaching  because  of  late  years  there  has 
been  a  growing  tendency  to  loose  speech,  and  even  vul- 
garity, in  the  pulpit. 

Quatrem^re  De  Quincy,  in  his  work  on  the  Fine  Arts, 
places  poetry  at  the  head  of  the  aesthetic  arts,  as  being 
the  purest  product  of  the  mental  idea  of  beauty,  and  the 
farthest  removed  from  the  material  object  :  then  comes 
music  ;  then  painting  ;  then  sculpture  ;  then  architec- 
ture ;  then  come  the  mechanical  and  illustrative  arts. 
We  would,  however,  be  disposed  to  give  to  oratory  the 
first  place  so  far  as  it  is  an  aesthetic  art,  because  it  acts 
more  immediately  upon  the  soul  ;  because  it  is  more  free 
and  spiritual  than  any  other  art  ;  and  because  it  deals 
almost  exclusively  with  pure  ideas.  Certainly,  this  is 
true  of  preaching.  That  oratory  is  an  art  there  can  be 
no  doubt,  for  it  is  a  system  of  means  to  an  end,  and  of 
the  most  exquisite  and  intellectual  kind  ;  but  it  is  not 
wholly  an  art,  for  the  useful  and  practical  predominate 
in  it  far  more  than  the  beautiful  ;  and  the  beautiful 
itself,  in  oratory,  is  but  relative,  or  what  is  fitted  to 
increase  the  power  and  usefulness  of  oratory.  It  is, 
in     fact,    by   the    assistance   which     it    renders,   by  the 


6 14  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

power  which  it  lends  to  the  efficiency  of  the  oratorical 
art  in  its  great  ends,  that  the  idea  of  the  beautiful  can 
enter  at  all  into  oratory.  Mr.  Emerson  says  :  "  The  con- 
scious utterance  of  thought,  by  speech  or  action,  to  any 
end,  is  art.  Architecture  and  eloquence  are  mixed  arts, 
whose  end  is  sometimes  beauty  and  sometimes  use. 
Eloquence,  as  far  as  it  is  a  fine  art,  is  modified  by  the 
material  organization  of  the  orator,  the  tone  of  the 
voice,  the  physical  strength,  the  play  of  the  eyes  and  the 
countenance.  All  this  is  so  much  deducted  from  the 
purely  spiritual  pleasure,  and  from  the  merit  of  art,  as 
being  rather  the  attribute  of  nature."  ' 

The  preacher  surely  should  not  aim  at  the  beautiful,  so 
far  as  to  make  it  his  end  ;  but  the  principles  of  good 
taste,  of  true  harmony  and  fitness,  should  be  in  his  mind, 
so  that  all  its  productions  should  unconsciously  take  the 
highest  form  of  beauty.  "  Whatsoever  things  are  honest, 
whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure, 
whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of 
good  report" — these  noble  and  beautiful  forms  of  things 
— he  is  called  to  think  upon,  and  he  dwells  perpetually  in 
their  high  communion  and  meditation.  They  are  chiefly 
forms  of  mental  and  moral  beauty  with  him.  "  All  high 
ideas  of  beauty,"  says  Ruskin,  "depend  probably  on 
delicate  perceptions  of  fitness,  propriety,  relation,  which 
are  purely  intellectual."  They  are  taken  out  of  their 
sensible  relations  with  the  visible  world,  and  become 
ideal  forms  or  types  of  beauty  in  the  mind,  associated 
with  sacred  and  eternal  things,  and  with  God  himself. 

While,  then,  the  preacher  does  not,  and  should  not, 
aim  at  the  beautiful  in  art,  he  still  may  come  through  the 
beautiful  into  the  good  ;  and  he  more  and  more  will  find, 


'  "  Society  and  Solitude." 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  615 

as  he  enters  into  the  higher  things  of  God,  that  the  to 
xaXov  and  the  to  ayaSuv  arc  one,  that  truth  is  beauty, 
and  that  a  mighty  power  in  preaching  the  gospel  hes  in 
its  appeal  to  the  universal  aesthetic  principle  in  the  human 
heart.  We  would  be  willing  to  found  this  assertion  upon 
no  less  an  authority,  though  probably,  to  some,  an  unex- 
pected one,  than  Jonathan  Edwards,  in  the  third  chaptei 
of  his  treatise  on  "  The  Nature  of  True  Virtue," 

Esthetics,  looked  upon  as  an  art,  or  as  a  department 
of  mental  science,  chiefly  applies,  according  to  the  Kan^ 
tian  use  of  the  term,  to  the  form  of  thought  which  any 
beautiful  object  of  nature  or  art  must  necessarily,  or  as 
it  exists  in  the  mind,  assume  ;  it  does  not  refer  primarily 
to  the  actual  or  material  condition  or  form  of  the  object 
to  which  it  is  applied.  But  real  beauty  resides  ultimately 
in  the  idea  ;  first  of  all  in  the  absolute  idea  of  beauty 
itself,  which  has  its  type  in  the  divine  creative  mind  ; 
thence  it  enters  into  the  conception  of  the  human  mind  ; 
and  from  that  conception  a  product  of  beauty  is  born, 
which  is  the  outward  expression  of  this  formal  idea. 
The  question  is.  May  this  aesthetic  idea  of 
formal  beauty  enter  into  so  solemn  and  prac-     Why  may 

tical  a  work  as  a  sermon,  or  preaching  ?    We      ^  aesthetic 
.  idea  enter 

thmk  It  may,  because-  ^    ^  into  preach- 

(i,)  Our  affection  for  God  is  increased  by  ing. 

the  setting  forth  of  his  perfections  and  true 
loveliness.  The  philosophical  object  of  love,  even  of  the 
highest  love,  is  beauty,  A  sermon  about  God  has,  for 
one  of  its  aims,  to  bring  out  the  beauty  of  the  divine 
nature — the  essential  beauty  of  God — not  in  its  relations 
to  us,  but  as  it  is  in  itself,  in  its  own  ineffable  loveli- 
ness, for  our  love  and  praise.  But  this  may  be  considered 
a  transcendental  reason  ;  and,  more  practically,  the  idea 
of  beauty  may  enter  into  a  sermon,  because — 


6i6  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

(2.)  Beauty  renders  truth  more  attractive.  We  cannot 
do  better  here  than  to  quote  a  passage  from  one  of 
Schiller's  essays  on  the  "  Limits  of  Taste."  "  Certainly, 
beauty  of  investiture  can  promote  intellectual  convictions 
just  as  little  as  the  elegant  arrangement  of  a  repast  serves  to 
satiate  the  guest,  or  the  exterior  polish  of  a  man  to  decide 
his  internal  worth.  But  just  as  the  fine  disposition  of  a 
table  entices  the  appetite,  and  a  recommendatory  exterior 
generally  awakens  and  excites  attention  to  the  man,  so 
by  an  attractive  exhibition  of  truth  we  are  favorably  in- 
clined to  open  our  soul  to  it  ;  and  the  hinderances  in  our 
disposition  which  otherwise  would  have  opposed  the. 
difficult  prosecution  of  a  long  and  rigorous  chain  of 
thought,  are  removed.  The  subject  never  gains  by 
beauty  of  form,  nor  is  the  understanding  assisted  in  its 
cognition  by  taste.  The  subject  must  recommend  itself 
directly  to  the  understanding  through  itself,  while  beauty 
of  form  addresses  the  imagination,  and  flatters  it  with  a 
show  of  freedom." 

The  last  expression  of  Schiller's  shows  one  true  use  of 
the  aesthetic  principle  as  applied  to  oratory,  and  even 
to  sacred  oratory  ;  it  appeals  agreeably  and  powerfully 
to  the  imagination,  and  thus  makes  way  for  the  more 
favorable  hearing  of  the  truth  ;  and  even  this  advantage 
is  not  to  be  carelessly  neglected  by  the  preacher.  "  The 
greatest  truths,"  says  Channing,  "  are  wronged  if  not 
linked  with  beauty,  and  they  win  their  way  most  surely 
and  deeply  into  the  soul,  when  arranged  in  their  natural 
and  fit  attire." 

(3.)  The  aesthetical  element  has  a  place  in  the  sermon 
because  the  Scriptures  themselves  admit  of  it.  The  Bible 
is  full  of  the  aesthetic  element  ;  the  preaching  of  the 
prophets  was  a  lively  address  to  the  imagination,  by 
the  presentation  of  the  boldest  and  most  beautiful  sym- 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC,  617 

boHsm  ;  the  preaching  of  the  apostle  Paul  abounds  in  ap- 
peals to  this  principle.  What  is  finer  than  his  figure  of 
the  Roman  armor,  carried  out  with  such  wonderful 
beauty  and  completeness  of  detail,  and  which  at  this  day 
is  exquisitely  illustrated  by  the  bas-reliefs  of  Trajan's 
Column  at  Rome  ?  The  introduction  to  his  discourse  on 
the  Areopagus  is  a  splendid  instance  of  the  principle  of 
adaptation,  which  is  one  of  the  qualities  of  beauty.  Paul 
had  a  fine  perception  of  the  aesthetic  quality  of  "  pro- 
priety"— one  that  borders  closely  on  "  adaptation  ;"  he 
addressed  the  fit  word  to  every  audience  ;  he  made  use 
of  Greek  literature  at  Athens  ;  he  reasoned  from  the  He- 
brew Scriptures  and  theology  at  Jerusalem,  and  in  the 
Jewish  synagogue  ;  he  appealed  to  Roman  law  and  opin- 
ions in  addressing  a  Roman  assembly. 

But  to  come  to  an  infinitely  higher  example — there  is 
in  the  words  and  discourses  of  our  Lord  that  sense  of 
moral  beauty,  which,  though  it  is  not  to  be  named  with 
mere  intellectual  beauty,  and  least  of  all  with  beauty 
which  is  the  object  of  perception  by  the  senses,  neverthe- 
less comprehends  the  truest  ideas  of  beauty  of  every  kind. 
Victor  Cousin  says  :  "  La  bcautc  morale  est  Ic  fond  de 
toiite  vraic  bcaiitc.  Cc  fo)id  est  un  pen  convert  ct  voile 
dans  la  nature.  U art  le  degage,  et  liii  donne  des  formes 
phis  transparentes.  C'est  par  cet  endroit,  que  F art,  quand 
il  connait  bien  sa  puissance  et  ses  ressourees,  institue  avec  la 
nature  une  luttc  oil  il  pent  avoir  l' avail tage."  The  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  has  a  unity  which  is  a  foundation- 
quality  of  the  beautiful.  As  the  deep  current  of  a  great 
river  bears  everything  along  with  it,  so  there  runs  through 
this  discourse  one  formative  idea  of  the  "  kingdom  of 
God,"  as  that  kingdom  descends  from  heaven  into  this 
world  and  shapes  its  new  results  in  human  nature,  so- 
ciety, responsibility,  and  life  ;  and  the  development  of 


6i8  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

this  idea  gives  to  the  sermon  the  highest  beauty  of  form, 
as  well  as  the  most  profound  depth  of  meaning — an  objec- 
tive and  subjective  beauty.  Everything,  indeed,  that 
the  Saviour  said  had  a  beauty  which  makes  it  attractive 
and  immortal,  and  which  gives  it  a  divine  significance, 
regarded  simply  as  truth. 

There  is  also  to  be  observed  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  in  the  sayings  and  discourses  of  our  Lord,  a  frequent 
use  of  the  words  naXoi  or  ro  xaXov — the  same  word  used 
by  Plato  and  the  Greek  writers  to  signify  "  the  beauti- 
ful," as  distinguished  from  "  the  true"  and  "  the  good." 
On  the  most  beautiful  specimens  of  Greek  vases,  of  un- 
known antiquity,  the  word  KaXov  is  sometimes  written,  as 
if  this  expressed  the  perfection  of  the  beautiful  in  art.  We 
know  that  naXoi  bears  the   secondary  moral  meaning  of 

good, "  "  true, "  "  excellent, "  "  worthy,  "as  it  is  every- 
where translated  in  the  New  Testament  ;  but,  as  a  mod- 
ern poet  has  said  that  the  beautiful  is  only  the  other  side 
of  the  true,  does  this  word  in  the  Scriptures  always  en- 
tirely lose  its  original  and  proper  idea  of  "  beautiful"  ? 
In  Matt.  26  :  10,  where  the  woman  anoints  the  Saviour's 
feet,  he  says,  "Why  trouble  ye  the  woman?  for  she 
hath  wrought  a  good  work  upon  me"  {e'pyov  yap  HaXov). 
Was  not  this  a  beautiful  as  well  as  good  work  ?  Matt. 
5  :  16,  "  Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men  that  they 
may  see  your  good  works"  {ra  ncxXa  ipyoc) — "your 
beautiful  works,"  in  which  the  lustrous  light  of  divine 
truth  shines,  and  attracts  men's  eyes  by  its  shining.  The 
Lord  called  himself  o  noijX})v  naXoi — "  the  good  shep- 
herd ;"  but  why  not  "  the  beautiful  shepherd" — one  in 
whose  character,  nature,  and  work  there  is  a  beautiful 
fitness,  propriety,  worthiness,  to  be  our  spiritual  shep- 
herd ?  A  Nestorian  convert  is  reported  to  have  said  to 
another   Nestorian,  "  My  brother,  have  you  yet   found 


GENERAL    PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  619 

Christ  to  be  beautiful?" — as  if  he  had  said,  "  Does  the 
beauty  of  the  hoHness  and  truth  that  are  in  Jesus  appear 
to  you  so  clear  that  it  draws  out  your  affections,  that  it 
gives  you  sincere  delight  to  contemplate  it,  and  make  it 
your  own  ?"  Christ  is  the  harmonizer  of  the  world  of 
mind  and  matter  ;  he  is  mediator  in  the  realms  of  truth 
and  reason,  as  well  as  of  faith  ;  and  by  removing  the  de- 
formity of  sin  from  the  world  he  makes  all  things  beau- 
tiful. Among  the  primitive  Christians  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  the  idea  of  the  beautiful,  or  the  idea  of  art, 
was  not  cultivated,  and,  we  might  say,  was  shunned. 
The  early  Christians  had  a  horror  of  what  they  saw  uni- 
versally employed  and  even  deified,  by  heathen  religions  ; 
but  when  art  was  once  freed  from  its  associations  with 
heathenism  and  false  religion,  then  it  offered  itself  to 
the  use  of  religion  as  a  true  thing,  as  a  source  of  influ- 
ence and  happiness,  as  a  true  expression  of  the  human 
mind.  But  though  not  much  of  art,  there  is  much  of 
true  poetry  in  the  very  earliest  Christian  times — as  we 
see,  for  example,  in  the  worship  of  the  apostolic  church, 
which  oftentimes  left  the  earth  and  mounted  to  God 
on  the  wings  of  song,  "  in  psalms  and  hymns,  and 
spiritual  songs."  This  was  intense  feeling  expressing 
itself  in  modes  and  forms  of  art,  however  simple.  In 
fact,  artistic  symbolism  began  very  soon  to  develop  itself 
in  the  history  of  Christianity.  The  newness  and  great- 
ness of  Christian  truth  inspired  pure  and  exalted  poetic 
feeling.  It  gave  birth  to  great  thoughts,  great  ideas, 
and  great  ideals,  never  more  beautiful  in  their  simple  ex- 
pression than  when  seen  in  that  morning  light  of  Chris- 
tianity. Christianity  not  only  touches  the  conscience, 
but  fires  the  heart  and  imagination,  and  leads  them  to 
those  heights  and  depths  of  which  Milton  and  Dante, 
after   all,    arc  inadequate  representatives — the  words  of 


620  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

Scripture  being  the  only  fit  embodiment  of  the  perfect 
beauty  and  the  supernatural  sublimity  of  revealed  truth. 
Victor  Cousin  well  says,  "  U art  ne  tient  a  la  religion,  ni 
a  la  morale  ;  inais  comme  elles  il  7iotis  approche  de  l'  infiniy 
dont  il  nous  manifest e  une  des  formes.  Dieii  est  la  source 
de  toute  beaute,  comme  de  toute  veritd,  de  toute  religion,  de 
toute  morale.  Le  but  le  plus  e'levc  de  V art  est  done  de 
rtfveiller  a  sa  maniere  le  sentiment  de  l' infini.''' 

(4.)  The  principle  of  beauty  may  come  into  the  sermon 
because  there  is  an  absolute  idea  of  beauty  in  the  human 
mind.  This  rests  at  the  bottom  of  all  ideas  and  conceptions 
of  taste,  and  is  a  divinely  implanted  principle  of  our  na- 
ture. Emerson  says,  "  The  universal  soul  is  the  alone  crea- 
tor of  the  useful  and  the  beautiful ;  therefore  to  make  any-- 
thing  useful  or  beautiful,  the  individual  must  be  submitted 
to  the  universal  mind."  In  the  very  soul  of  humanity  this 
principle  of  beauty  has  been  created  for  good  ends—  there 
is  an  ideal  existing  in  this  universal  soul,  of  which  every 
individual  soul  represents  a  part,  and  thus  may  have  some 
true,  even  if  partial,  conception  of  that  perfect  ideal  which 
is  no  arbitraiy  or  accidental  thing,  but  which  is  fixed  in 
the  constitution  of  the  mind  and  rests  upon  necessary 
and  absolute  laws.  Plato  was  the  first  to  enunciate  this 
truth,  that  the  idea  of  beauty  was  in  the  mind,  and  that 
its  perception  in  other  objects  was  but  the  reflection  of 
the  mind's  ideas — there  being  no  real  beauty  in  matter 
considered  by  itself.  This  theory  Plato  develops  fully 
in  "  The  Greater  Hippias  ;"  and  all  aesthetic  theories 
which  are  worthy  of  being  named  since  his  day  are  but 
the  applications  and  varieties  of  this  Platonic  assertion. 
Thus  Diderot's  theory  was,  that  beauty  is  the  application 
of  the  principle  of  relation  in  the  mind  ;  that  where  the 
mind  perceives  certain  true  relations  in  objects,  the  senti- 
ment of  beauty  is  awakened. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  6-M 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds'  theory  also  reduces  beauty  to 
the  principle  of  just  proportion,  or  moderation,  which 
exists  in  the  mind.  Alison  refers  all  the  principles  of 
beauty  to  the  mental  law  of  association  ;  it  is  the  waking 
up  of  agreeable  trains  of  association  by  the  beautiful 
object  ;  for  example,  a  quiet  landscape  leads  the  mind 
to  pleasing  thoughts  of  comfort,  of  the  blessings  of 
peace,  and  of  innocent,  uncorrupted  human  enjoyment. 
We  do  not  mean  to  say,  by  this  absolute  idea  of  beauty 
existing  in  the  mind,  that  there  is  a  distinct  aesthetic 
faculty  or  power  in  the  mind  (though  we  are  not  prepared 
to  deny  it),  else  it  would  seem  as  if  there  could  not  be 
such  innumerable  varieties  of  taste  among  different  peo- 
ple ;  but  what  we  mean  is,  that  there  is  in  every  mind, 
even  the  most  uncultivated  (and,  of  course,  incompara- 
bly more  in  the  cultivated),  a  certain  perception  of 
beauty,  which,  when  it  is  realized,  produces  pleasure. 
The  rudest  sailor  takes  pleasure  in  the  beautiful  propor- 
tions of  a  fine  vessel.  Now,  if  the  intuitive  perception 
of  beauty  had  not  first  existed  in  the  mind,  how  could  it 
have  been  cultivated  even  in  this  one  respect  ?  This  sen- 
sibility to  beauty  must  first  exist,  must  be  a  common 
intuition  of  the  human  mind,  but  perfection  in  taste 
comes  of  course  by  culture,  by  a  process  of  induction,  of 
the  disciplining  of  the  critical  judgment,  of  arriving  by 
repeated  processes  at  truer  and  truer  analyses,  just  as  the 
old  Greeks  arrived  at  what  may  be  called  the  highest  pos- 
sible perfection,  or  the  ideal  in  the  art  of  sculpture,  so  that 
they  gave  us  the  masterpieces  of  art  from  which  we  draw 
our  rules  and  standards  ;  and  none  of  us  can  arrive  at 
anything  like  perfection  in  taste  without  a  diligent  culti- 
vation of  the  taste,  like  that  of  any  other  faculty  ;  but 
the  source  of  the  beautiful,  whether  it  is  simple  or  com- 
plex, whether  made  up  of  a  single,  or  of  many,  elements, 


02  2  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

exists  in  the  mind  itself  ;  real  beauty  is  the  reflection  of 
inward  ideas  and  sensations  called  forth  by  outward 
objects.  As  there  is  no  essential  sacredness  in  a  temple, 
but  it  is  the  mind  that  invests  it  with  the  sacred  charac- 
ter, so  there  is  no  beauty  to  a  landscape  if  the  mind  that 
regards  it  is  not  attuned  to  beauty  ;  this  belongs  to  the 
relativity  of  human  knowledge.  Of  course  this  sense  of 
beauty  sprang  from  the  mind's  Original,  and  who  is  Him- 
self the  ro  HaXov,  as  he  is  the  to  ayadov  ;  for,  as  a  mod- 
ern writer  says,  "  The  summit  of  the  beautiful  is  the 
true."  All  the  works  of  God  would  appear  beautiful, 
were  we  placed  in  the  position  of  God,  and  could  clearly 
see  those  principles  of  order,  harmony,  proportion,  fit- 
ness, unity — that  beautiful  plan — upon  which  all  is  made. 
These  hidden  principles  of  beauty  which  God  has  im- 
pressed upon  nature  objectively,  and  subjectively  upon 
the  human  mind,  are  for  us  to  study,  as  far  as  they  can 
be  discovered.  It  is  thought  that  a  true  advance  has 
been  made,  especially  by  German  writers  on  aesthetics, 
upon  the  Platonic  idea,  in  this  respect — that  the  objective 
should  be  joined  to  the  subjective,  the  real  to  the  ideal, 
for  the  production  of  beauty  ;  that  though  beauty  does 
not  reside  primarily  in  the  object  itself,  but  rather  in  the 
idea  of  the  mind  that  perceives  it,  yet  that  this  idea 
would  not  be  sufificient  to  produce  beauty,  unless  it 
formed  itself  upon,  or  discovered  itself  in,  or  expressed 
itself  through,  some  real  form.  It  must  come  out  of  its 
subjectivity  to  produce  real  beauty,  as  God  himself  did 
in  Christ,  in  order  to  produce  a  beautiful  life  ;  it  must 
take  a  form  that  corresponds  to  this  idea  in  the  mind, 
and,  above  all,  in  the  divine  mind.  Beauty,  therefore, 
to  be  perfect,  requires  form  as  well  as  conception  ;  and 
there  is  the  beautiful  form  in  which  every  idea,  or  ever)-- 
pure  truth,  manifests  itself.      It  does  not  manifest  itself 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  623 

with  the  highest    degree  of   perfection,    unless  it    takes 
that  particular  form,  just    as  the   Greeks  seem    to  have 
come    nearer    the    true    or   the  ideal    representation    of 
the  highest    beauty  of  the  human  form,  than   any  other 
nation!     There  is,  then,  the  f^t,  the  beautiful  form,  await- 
ing every  true  idea  ;  and  it  is  the  business  of  the  artist, 
or  creator,  to  discover  this.     So  far,  then,  as  the  orator 
or  the  preacher  is  an   artist,  this  is  his  business— to  dis- 
cover the   fit  and   beautiful   form   of   his    conception  of 
truth,  or  of  any  given  truth  ;  and  this  is  right,  because  it 
is  God's  own  way  of  working.     Some  rhetorical  writers 
have  expressed  themselves  clearly  on  this  point.      "  Ora- 
tory must  therefore,  of  necessity,  express  beauty,  in  order 
to  its  perfection.     This  cannot  be  said  of  the  product  of 
any  mechanical  art."  '     "  Taste  is  nothing  but  the  selec- 
tion of  the  befitting  and  the  adapted,  guided  by  ethical 
ideas.     Its  proper  home,  therefore,  is  within  the  sphere  of 
eloquence.   But  eloquence,  in  respect  of  taste,  must  always 
differ  from  poetry,  in  that,  in  the  case  of  eloquence,  the 
selection   of   the  befitting  and   adapted   is   accompanied 
with  the  design  of  exciting  affection  ;  while  taste  in  the 
poet,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  quality  that  works  without  any 
design  in  view,  except  the  mere  production  of  beauty."  ' 
If,  therefore,  the  principle   of  beauty   enters  into    the 
highest  affection  toward  God,  if  it  serves  to  render  truth 
more  attractive,  if  it  is  found  in  the  Christian  Scriptures, 
and  belongs  essentially  to   Christianity   itself,  and   if  it 
exists  absolutely  in  the  human  mind,  and,  therefore,  of 
course,  primarily  in  the  divine  mind,  it  is  a  proper  object 
(in  its  place)  of  attention   and   study  to  the  preacher  of 
divine  truth. 

We  have  said  that  it  is  probably  true,  though  we  are 


'  Day's  "  Rhetoric,"  p.  21.  '  Theremin's  Essay,  p.   132. 


624  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

by  no  means  assured  on  this  point,  that  the  principle  of 
beauty  could  not  be  considered  as  forming  by  itself  a 
separate  faculty  or  department  of  the  mind,  but  that 
rather  it  seems  to  depend  upon,  or  to  be  the  combined 
result  of,  certain  intuitive  tastes,  perceptions,  laws,  or 
principles  of  the  mind,  which  are  fitted  to  be  called  into 
exercise  by  whatever  corresponds  to  them  in  outer  ob- 
jects, by  whatever  is  calculated  to  draw  them  out,  or 
give  them  expression  ;  and  we  would  not  be  understood 
as  saying  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  beauty  existing 
inherently  in  an  object,  as  in  a  strong  and  beautiful  man, 
or  a  beautiful  woman,  or  a  beautiful  landscape,  or  a  beau- 
tiful work  of  art,  independently  of  the  mental  perception 
of  beauty  which  it  calls  forth  ;  but  what  we  mean  is  that 
the  beautiful  object  is  the  secondary  thing  ;  it  is  the  pro- 
duct of  a  higher  first  cause,  namely,  the  idea,  or  faculty, 
of  beauty  in  the  divine  or  the  human  mind.  It  is  the 
result  of  this  original  power,  or  it  is  simply  the  occasion 
that  calls  it  into  exercise.  But  there  is  still  one  faculty 
of  the  mind  which  does  peculiarly  preside  over  the  whole 
field  of  the  a^sthetical,  and  that  is,  the  imagination,  or 
the  representative  faculty  of  the  mind,  whose  use  and 
place  in  preaching  no  one  will  deny. 

The    imagination,    according    to   Coleridge,    is    "  that 
power  of  the  finite  mind  which  (as  far  as  possible)  corre- 
sponds to  the  creative  power  in  the  infinite 
The         mind,  and  which  struggles  to  idealize  and 
imagination    ^^^^    ^jj  objects  of  perception." 

in  oratory 

^^^  This   noble    faculty,  which    idealizes   and 

preaching,     perfects,  which  combines  many  perceptions 
into    one     new     and     living   whole,    enters 
largely  into  all   the  aesthetic   arts,  and    cannot    be   dis- 
regarded  by  the   preacher,  any   more   than    by  the   poet 
or  painter.     This   is  par  eminence  the  faculty  of  inven- 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  625 

tion — the  greatest  faculty  of  the  true  artist.  "  While 
common  sense  looks  at  things  or  visible  nature  as  real 
and  final  facts,  poetry,  or  the  imagination  which  dictates 
it,  is  a  second  sight,  looking  through  these  and  using 
them  as  types  or  words  for  thoughts  which  they  signify." 
This  is  what  gives  one  preacher's  sermon  a  freshness, 
originality,  and  beauty  of  form,  which  another  preacher's 
sermon,  of  equal  force  of  thought,  entirely  lacks.  It  is 
this  that,  more  than  anything  else  (rhetorically  speak-  / 
ing),  takes  a  sermon  out  of  the  commonplace,  and 
makes  it  individual.  It  makes  a  new  mental  creation, 
though  it  may  add  nothing  to  the  actual  stock  of  knowl- 
edge which  existed  before.  But  it  casts  ideas  into  new 
forms — more  beautiful  and  powerful  forms.  Mr.  Emer- 
son says,  "  Nothing  so  marks  as  imaginative  expression, 
a  figurative  expression  wrests  attention,  and  is  remarked 
and  repeated.  How  often  has  a  phrase  of  this  kind  made 
a  reputation.  Pythagoras'  '  Golden  Sayings  '  were  such, 
and  Socrates'  and  Bonaparte's.  The  aged  Michael  An- 
gelo  indicates  his  perpetual  study  as  in  boyhood  by  the 
remark,  'I  carry  my  satchel  still.'  Machiavel  described 
the  papacy  as  a  '  stone  inserted  in  the  body  of  Italy  to 
keep  the  wound  open.'  " 

The  preacher's  imagination  should  be  manifested  in 
this  renewing  power  which  is  infused  into  his  thought, 
rather  than  in  any  peculiar  use  of  startling  metaphors,  or 
of  meteoric  flights  of  fancy.  There  is  what  may  be  called 
the  shaping  spirit  of  the  imagination.  "  The  poet  does  not 
create  out  of  nothing,  but  his  mind  so  acts  on  the  things 
of  the  universe,  material  and  immaterial,  that  each  com- 
position is  in  effect  a  new  creation  ;  and  so  it  might  be  said 
of  the  orator.  The  higher  nwrahiscs  of  tJic  imagination, 
the  prophetic  gift  of  the  true  seer  and  preacher  of  truth, 
should  not  be  lost  sight  of.     When  their  imagination  was 


626  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

purified  and  intensified  by  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  prophets,  as  Isaiah  and  Ezekiel,  were  enabled  to  pene- 
trate into  the  secret  iniquity  of  their  age,  as  into  a  picture- 
chamber  of  imagery  ;  and  they  saw  also  into  the  myste- 
riously hidden  workings  of  the  wicked  heart.  By  this 
moral  insight,  purified  if  not  directly  inspired  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  the  preacher  now  is  able,  with  more  or  less  clear- 
ness, to  perceive  truth  and  error,  and  the  moral  uni- 
verse, and  hell,  and  heaven,  and  God."  The  following 
passage  from  Blackzvood  (January,  1870)  sets  forth  this 
specific  moral  quality  or  power  of  the  imagination  : 
"  The  office  of  the  imagination  as  an  intellectual  agent 
has  been  much  discussed  and  much  exalted,  but  what  we 
may  call  its  moral  influence  has  been  but  little  taken  into 
consideration.  Invention  is  but  one  of  its  gifts,  and,  we 
believe,  not  the  greatest.  Its  highest  mission  in  this 
world  is  that  of  comprehension.  Half  the  wickedness, 
half  the  cruelties  and  harsh  judgments  of  life,  spring 
from  a  deficiency  of  this  all-important  quality.  The 
mind  which  cannot  put  itself  in  another's  place,  nor  iden- 
tify another's  point  of  view,  is,  however  just  and  scrupu- 
lous, continually  in  danger  of  making  false  decisions. 
There  is  such  a  thing  to  be  sure  as  a  redundancy  of  im- 
agination and  sympathy,  which  goes  far  to  obliterate  the 
limits  of  right  and  wrong  altogether,  and  to  account  for 
every  action,  however  base  ;  but  deficiency  is  much  more 
general  than  redundancy."  And  how  great  a  quality 
this  moral  imagination  in  a  preacher — to  be  able  to  put 
himself  in  the  point  of  view  of  another — of  the  speaker 
or  actor  in  the  passage  of  Scripture  he  is  treating,  but, 
above  all,  of  the  hearer  to  whom  he  is  speaking — how 
this  single  great  quality  would  tend  to  increase  his  skill, 
his  adaptation,  his  comprehensiveness,  his  whole  power 
in  reading:  and  reaching:  the  hearts  of  men. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES    OF  RHETORIC.  627 

We  would  not  be  understood  as  saying  that  the  simple 
cuhivation  of  the  preacher's  imagination  is  in  itself  a  culti- 
vation of  good  taste  in  preaching  ;  but  only  this,  that  the 
imagination  is  that  faculty  of  the  mind  which  has  espe- 
cially to  do  with  the  creation  and  the  cultivation  of  what  is 
true,  fit,  and  beautiful  in  art  ;  with  the  art  of  writing  and 
oratory  ;  yet  the  imagination  may  be  cultivated  in  the 
wrong  direction  :  it  may  be  totally  devoid  of  taste  ;  it 
may  be  vivid  but  coarse,  grotesque,  and  horrible  ;  it  may 
be  strong,  like  that  of  Ignatius  Loyola  or  St.  Dominic, 
but  with  the  fierce  fanaticism  and  lurid  light  that  charac- 
terized those  minds.  Goethe  says,  "  Nothing  is  more 
fearful  in  art  than  an  imagination  unregulated  by  good 
taste."  The  use  of  the  imagination  as  bodying  forth  in 
concrete  forms  moral  ideas,  is  its  highest  use,  and  this 
power  is  grandly  illustrated  in  a  preacher  like  Dr,  Bush- 
nell.  He  himself  is  an  example  of  what  he  calls  the 
"  faith-power  of  the  imagination,"  that  power  which 
brings  the  unseen  and  the  supernatural  into  view. 

The  greatest  preachers  since  the  apostle  Paul's  day 
have  been  distinguished  for  the  presence  of  the  imagina- 
tive faculty  in  a  marked  degree.  Chrysostom's  imagi- 
nation led  him  into  the  living  fields  of  illustration,  and 
his  illustrations  are  as  homely  and  vivid  as  when  they 
were  first  spoken  to  the  great  congregations  in  Antioch 
and  Byzantium.  Augustine's  imagination  was  an  inward 
fire,  that  lighted  up  spiritual  realms  with  a  glow  like  that 
of  his  own  African  landscape.  Luther's  imagination 
made  unseen  things  real — more  real  than  the  things  of 
sight.  Jeremy  Taylor's  imagination  was  truly  imperial  ; 
and  one  cannot  open  his  pages  without  coming  into  the 
presence  of  new  and  resplendent  forms  of  a  fresh,  opulent 
creation  ;  of  a  superabundance,  indeed,  of  imagery,  but 
so  genuine,  and   the  healthy  product  of  such  sound   and 


628  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

substantial  thought,  that  it  resembles  beautiful  clusters 
of  grapes,  which  we  feed  upon  while  we  enjoy  the  beauty 
that  is  so  varied  and  rich  a  growth  of  generous  nature. 
John  Howe's  imagination  entered  into  his  most  abstruse 
speculations,  and  now  and  then,  as  in  his  "  Living  Tem- 
ple," led  him  into  noble  and  extended  imagery.  Robert 
Hall's  imagination  sustained  him  through  the  most  ele- 
vated reasoning  upon  moral  themes.  Edward  Irving, 
who,  with  all  his  errors,  was  a  great  preacher,  had  an 
imagination  at  times  Miltonic,  and  it  was  so  regarded  by 
his  friend  Coleridge.  Whitefield's  imagination  was  ex- 
tremely vivid,  inflaming  his  whole  language,  and  making 
it' blaze  with  a  meaning  and  fire  which  now  seem  dull, 
compared  to  the  moment  of  delivery.  Among  our  own 
great  preachers,  Jonathan  Edwards  manifested  this  fac- 
ulty in  a  more  undemonstrative  and  hidden  way,  not  so 
much  in  his  forms  of  language  as  in  the  power  of  pure 
speculation,  of  projecting  or  creating  for  himself  an  ideal 
world  of  theory.  John  Mason,  too,  was  not  wanting  in 
this  power  which  animated  his  reasoning  faculties. 
Lyman  Beecher  had  a  vigorous  imagination,  which  made 
his  method  of  speaking  and  argument  quite  original,  and 
his  preaching  "  logic  on  fire." 

There  has  been,  heretofore,    it   may  be,  a  too    great 

curbing  of  the  imagination  in  our  New  England  style  of 

•  preaching,  and  thus  a  loss  of  power  ;  for  the 

Essential     imagination  is  the  main-spring  of  invention 
principles  of  .        ,  i       i  i       • 

^    ^    .        m  the  orator  or  writer  ;  and  when  the  im- 
taste  in  ' 

preaching,  agination  is  once  fired,  all  the  other  faculties 
of  the  mind  are  set  in  motion.  But  we 
would  speak  of  the  imagination  in  this  connection  partic- 
ularly, because  it  enables  the  preacher  to  produce  the 
first  and  perhaps  greatest  result  of  the  working  of  the 
aesthetic  principle  in  a  sermon,  viz.,  unity  of  form.      Wc 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  639 

would  mention  this,  then,  as  the  first  essential  principle 

of  taste,  viewed  in  relation  to  a  discourse. 

(i.)  Unity  of  form.     It  is  thought  that  Augustine,  in 

his  "  Treatise   on   Beauty,"  which   has  been   lost,  made 

"  the  beauty  of  all  objects  to  depend    on 

•  1  .  r     ,  Unity  of 

their   unity,    or   on    the    perception    of   the         ^  ^^ 

principle  or  design  which  fixed  the  relations 
of  the  various  parts,  and  presented  them  to  the  intellect 
or  imagination  as  one  harmonious  whole."'  Although 
this  is  a  partial  theory,  yet  it  recognizes  the  chief  prop- 
erty of  every  beautiful  object  of  nature  and  true  work  of 
art.  A  range  of  mountains,  an  oak  tree,  the  group  of 
the  Laocoon,  the  Transfiguration  by  Raphael,  the  interior 
of  the  Milan  Cathedral,  though  each  composed  of  many, 
even  myriad,  parts,  yet  make  but  one  impression  ;  they 
give  the  idea  of  one  creative  mind  by  which  they  were 
formed.  In  the  greatest  poems,  also,  how  extremely 
simple  is  the  creative  fiat  which  runs  through  them,  and 
organizes  their  numberless  details  into  one  grand  whole, 
as  in  the  "  Iliad,"  the  "  Prometheus  Vinctus,"  and  the 
"  Paradise  Lost"  !  A  child  could  tell  the  story  of  each 
almost  in  a  breath. 

This  unifying  power  in  these  great  works,  and  in  all 
true  works  of  art,  is  doubtless  that  of  the  imagination,  as 
Coleridge  defines  it. 

In  works  of  thought  and  reflection,  as  in  a  sermon,  the 
imagination  seeks  after  complete  representations  of  truth  ; 
even  as  Schiller  defines  the  object  of  true  literary  com- 
position to  be  "  to  exhibit  the  universal  in  the  particu- 
lar." The  orator  or  preacher  should  strive,  through  the 
force  of  his  own  mind,  to  give  wholeness  of  form  to  the 
subject,  causing  it   to   stand   out   like   a  finished   statue, 


'  "  Encyclopredia  Brilannica, "  art.  Beauty. 


630  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

apart  from  all  others,  with  nothing  to  be  added,  and 
nothing  to  be  taken  away.  Emerson  says,  "  In  a  work  of 
art  the  parts  must  be  subordinated  to  the  ideal,  and  every- 
thing individual  abstracted,  so  that  it  shall  be  a  produc- 
tion of  the  universal  soul.  The  orator  surrenders  himself 
to  what  the  occasion  should  say,  not  to  his  individual  will, 
but  to  the  principle  which  he  advocates.  Whatever  is  beau- 
tiful rests  on  the  foundation  of  the  necessary.  Nothing  is 
arbitrary,  nothing  is  insulated  in  beauty.  Every  genuine 
work  of  art  has  as  much  reason  for  being  as  the  earth  and 
the  sun."  In  every  age  and  under  all  conditions  there 
are  evidences  and  manifestations  of  this  universal  beauty  ; 
this  permanent  as  contradistinguished  from  contingent 
beauty,  removed  from  the  narrow  bounds  of  the  local  and 
partial,  of  that  which  changes  with  the  changes  of  history, 
custom,  and  taste,  and  standing  in  its  own  divine  and 
acknowledged  perfection.  But  it  is  only  when  the  crea- 
tive imagination  has  brooded  over  a  subject,  has  vitalized 
it  with  its  own  free  spirit,  and  has  wrought  it  together  in 
the  heat  of  its  thought,  that  this  universal  and  beautiful 
result — this  bringing  of  all  into  one  whole — is  produced. 
This  was  the  power  of  Dr.  Chalmers.  His  imagination, 
which  was  his  prime  intellectual  faculty  as  a  preacher, 
was  usually  employed  in  developing,  enhancing,  and  am- 
plifying one  idea,  one  truth  of  the  divine  word,  so  that  it 
stood  out  at  last  in  its  majestic  proportions  to  attract  by 
its  beauty  or  to  overpower  by  its  magnitude.  His  ser- 
mons are  deep  practical  contemplations  of  truth  flowing 
out  from  one  central  thought  that  opens  into  the  divine 
word  itself  ;  they  spread  out  and  spread  out,  till  each 
becomes  as  it  were  a  lake  or  a  sea  on  which  the  hearers' 
minds  are  lifted  up  and  borne  onward. 

This  vital  unity  of  form  and   fresh   original  complete- 
ness are  particularly  seen  in  the  sermons  of  the  late  F.  W. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  631 

Robertson.  They  attract  by  their  inherent  nobleness. 
In  Dr.  Bushnell's  sermons  (to  which  we  have  before 
alluded)  there  is  an  exhibition  of  this  same  clear,  bold 
bodying  forth  of  thought,  this  plastic  power  of  the  im- 
agination, which  the  dry  scientific  intellect  cannot  reach. 
Will  not  an  audience  be  impressed  by  the  shortest  living 
sermon  of  this  kind  more  than  by  the  most  elaborate  and 
dull  scientific  treatise  that  was  ever  preached  ?  There 
must  be  thought,  but  it  must  be  thought  in  a  living  form. 
No  one  wishes  to  see  truth  dissected  but  truth  alive.  No 
one  cares  to  see  the  disjecta  membra  of  Osiris,  but  the 
living  divinity.  Another  principal  characteristic  of  the 
aesthetic  element  in   preaching  is — 

(2.)  Grace  of  movement.  "  Grace"  is  from  gratus, 
free,  or  that  which  agrees  with  willingly,  which  is  con- 
gruous, which  moves  in  harmony.  It  con-  q  ^  e  of 
sists  of  an  harmonious  arrangement  of  parts,  movement, 
so  that  all  move  easily.  It  is  what  Schiller 
calls  "  the  play  movement,"  as  contrasted  with  the 
movement  by  rule.  This  unconstrained  movement  of  the 
m.ind  should  run  through  the  sermon.  All  traces  of  work 
and  painful  labor  should  be  taken  out  of  it.  All  stiff  and 
unnatural  juxtapositions  of  ideas  or  sentiments  should 
be  removed.  The  thought  should  flow  freely,  even  if 
not  rapidly.  The  audience,  though  aroused  to  active 
thought,  should  not  be  called  upon  to  think  the  subject 
cut  de  origine,  laboriously,  with  the  speaker.  He  should 
give  them  the  results  rather  than  the  processes  of  his 
thought.  There  may  be  a  world  of  hard  labor  bestowed 
upon  the  sermon — the  more  the  better  ;  but  this  should 
not  be  displayed.  The  sweat  of  toil  should  be  wiped 
from  it.  A  free,  animated,  and  even  joyous  movement 
should  appear  through  it  all.  It  may  be  solemn,  but 
should  not  be  heavy.     All  men  love  to  be  lured  into  this 


632  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

sense  of  perfect  freedom  in  a  discourse — to  believe  that 
all  is  natural  and  unforced.  Even  if  they  must  perceive 
that  a  sermon  is  the  fruit  of  great  previous  study,  yet  for 
the  moment  they  would  believe  that  it  is  the  spontaneous 
outpouring  of  the  speaker's  own  soul.  The  preacher 
should  strive  to  be  an  unbound  man,  not  one  forced  to 
think  and  speak  what  another  man  thinks  and  speaks  ; 
but  all  men  should  see  that  he  is  himself,  that  his  thoughts 
are  free,  and  spoken  because  they  are  his  own.  Then  he 
will  be  graceful.  Freedom  is  necessary  to  grace.  The 
intellect  creates  method  ;  the  imagination,  unity  ;  but 
the  heart,  grace.  Grace  comes  from  inward  sympathy. 
Grace,  looked  at  in  this  sense,  is  not  a  weak  quality  in  a 
speaker  ;  it  is  nothing  less  than  power  moving  freely. 
Grace  springs  from  that  aroused  and  joyful  energy  of  the 
mind  which  is  one  of  its  deepest  sources  of  power. 
When  a  speaker  moves  with  this  free  and  graceful 
energy,  he  carries  his  audience  with  him.  We  will  men- 
tion but  one  other  quality  of  good  taste  in  preaching  : 

(3.)  Propriety  of  thought  and   expression.     We  mean 

here  a  proper  form,   rather  than  substance,  of  thought. 

Propriety  has  been  defined  to   be   "a  fine 

ropne  y  o    ^^^  \x\xQ.  conformity  to    all  relations   which 
thought  and  , , 

expression     "^^7   surround   an   object.         These  may  be 

relations  of  truth,  time,  place,  circumstance, 
or  whatsoever  is  befitting  the  right  treatment  of  the  par- 
ticular theme  in  hand.  This  quality  of  beauty  would  lead 
the  preacher  to  fall  into  no  error,  {a.)  in  the  choice  of 
his  subject  ;  (^.)  in  the  fitness  of  his  arguments  ;  {c.)  in 
the  perception  of  the  true  character  of  the  occasion  ; 
{d.')  in  the  adaptations  of  thought  and  illustration  to  the 
intellectual  and  spiritual  state  of  his  audience.  All 
truth  is  good,  but  one  truth  is  fitter  than  another  at  a 
certain  time.     In  the  treatment  of  certain  subjects  there 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  633 

are  sets  of  ideas  congruous  and  totally  incongruous  to 
those  subjects.  In  the  treatment  of  texts,  this  principle 
of  "  propriety"  is  peculiarly  needed  ;  a  text  which 
breathes  the  hope  and  joy  of  the  gospel  should  not  be 
made  a  sledge-hammer  to  crush  the  mind  with  the  terrors 
of  the  law.  The  fine  cultivation  of  this  aesthetic  princi- 
ple of  "  propriety"  is  to  be  particularly  seen  in  a  preach- 
er's illustrations,  and  in  the  moderation  and  control  of 
the  wayward  and  violent  imagination.  (^.)  In  the  fitness 
and  dignity  of  his  language.  While  language  should  be 
plain,  it  never  should  be  low  in  the  pulpit.  Neither  cant 
nor  slang  should  be  allowed.  The  sermon  is  a  portion  of 
divine  worship,  and  its  ground-tone  should  be  reverential 
without  losing  its  humanness,  its  nature,  its  freedom. 
Occasional  homely  strength  and  great  plainness  of  lan- 
guage is  not  at  all  what  we  mean,  but  grossness  of  im- 
agination, vulgar  smartness,  flippancy  of  thought  and 
phrase,  absolute  ill-taste  in  word,  image,  and  expres- 
sion. 

We  might  speak  of  many  other  important  aesthetic 
principles  which  enter  into  oratory,  and  even  sacred  ora- 
tory, such  as  proportion,  disposition,  neatness,  correct- 
ness, color,  tone,  light  and  shade,  novelty,  simplicity, 
variety,  sublimity,  expression,  and,  above  all,  truth  ;  but 
we  cannot  here  go  further  into  this  subject.  Many  of 
the  principles  of  good  taste  in  writing  and  speaking  will 
necessarily  be  noticed  when  we  treat  more  particularly  of 
Style. 

The  best  way  to  cultivate  the  aesthetic  sense,  or  good 

taste,    is    by   a   constant    study   of    nature. 

Art  is  not  nature,  nor  the  servile  copying         °^    ° 

cultivate  the 
of  nature — as  if,  in  Coleridge  s  words,   the        taste 

artist    should  pick  nature's  pockets — but  it 

has  its  beginnings  in  nature,  and  nature  is  also  its  best 


634  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

guide  and  teacher.  Goethe  says  that  all  any  artist  has 
to  do  is  to  study  nature  ;  and  though  this  remark  may 
be  too  sweeping — for  nature  itself  is,  in  some  sense,  im- 
perfect, and  matter  could  not  manifest  to  us  the  perfect 
idea  of  God — yet  from  nature  we  draw  those  elementary 
principles  of  art  which  the  human  mind,  made  by  God, 
is  capable  of  improving  upon,  from  the  higher  ideal 
within.  Dr.  Chalmers  was  a  genuine  lover  of  natural 
scenery;  and  the  influence  of  the  Scottish  mountains  and 
lakes,  which  were  familiar  to  htm,  and  revisited  by  him 
on  every  possible  occasion,  is  perceptible  in  the  noble- 
ness, and,  sometimes,  sublimity,  of  his  style.  Calvin,  on 
the  contrary,  seems  to  have  caught  little  or  nothing  from 
the  influence  of  the  grander  scenery  about  his  home. 
The  careful  study  of  one  or  more  of  the  fine  arts,  such  as 
painting,  or  architecture,  especially  the  last,  which  is  an 
accurate  and  scientific  art,  is  also  highly  improving  to  the 
aesthetic  sense.  "  Etcniin  ormies  artcs,  qiice  ad  Jmnunii- 
tatem  pertinent,  habcnt  qnoddam  comninne  vinculum,  ct 
quasi  cognitione  quadam  inter  sc  contine7itur.'"  ^  A  study 
of  the  best  poets  develops  and  cultivates  the  true  love  of 
the  beautiful.  Above  all,  let  the  heart  be  pure  and  joy- 
ful and  it  will  see  beauty  in  all  things.  Ruskin  says, 
"  The  sensation  of  beauty  (that  is,  the  highest  beauty)  is 
dependent  on  a  pure,  right,  and  open  state  of  the  heart." 
There  is  everlasting  beauty  in  the  works  of  God.  In  the 
meditation  of  his  word  and  works  we  best  reach  the 
source  of  the  beautiful.  Do  we  not  feel  that  in  the  per- 
fect life  of  God,  to  which,  if  we  are  good,  we  tend,  all 
that  is  incongruous  and  earthly,  all  that  is  not  truly 
beautiful,  will  vanish  away  ? 


'  Cicero,  Pro  Arckia,  i.,  2. 


GENERAL    PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  635 

Sec.   27.  Rhetorical  Criticism. 

Criticism   (from  xpivoo,  to  judge)  relates  to  the  art  of 

judging  according  to  those  principles  which  belong  to  an 

object  with  reference  to  its  particular  nature      ^  .  .  . 

,  ,..,.,         Criticism 

and  design  ;   it  is   the   application   of    right       defined. 

principles  to  any  special  object  or  work  ;  for 
though  there  are  common  principles  that  may  have  rela- 
tion to  all  things  that  are  proper  subjects  of  criticism,  yet 
there  are  specific  principles  that  apply  to  individual 
objects  and  individual  classes  of  objects,  having  reference 
to  their  peculiar  nature  and  intent.  The  principles  of 
criticism  are  involved  in  the  nature  of  the  subject.  Thus 
the  canons  of  criticism  that  would  guide  us  in  judging  of 
an  historical  work  would  differ  in  some  essential  respects 
from  those  which  would  govern  us  in  judging  of  a  pro- 
duction of  literature,  or  of  the  rhetorical  art,  since  the 
main  intention  which  predominates  in  a  particular  work 
must  necessarily  exert  a  controlling  influence  upon  the 
elements  of  criticism  comprehended  in  that  work.  If, 
for  example,  the  end  be  the  production  of  beauty,  as  in  a 
work  of  pure  art,  then  the  of^ce  of  criticism  is,  in  the 
first  place,  to  lay  down  clearly  those  principles  by  which 
beauty  is  to  be  attained,  and  those  ideas,  or  ideals,  which 
set  forth  true  conceptions  of  the  beautiful,  and  then  to 
judge  of  the  merits  or  faults  of  particular  works  of  art  by 
the  standard  which  has  been  thus  established.  The  end 
of  history,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not  beauty  but  truth  ; 
and  historical  criticism  would  have  for  its  more  special 
object  the  discrimination  between  the  true  and  the  false, 
the  sifting  of  evidence,  the  analysis  of  character  and 
motive,  the  search  for  the  true  in  its  more  special  lim- 
itations and  conditions,  the  bringing  to  bear  of  the 
nicest  tests    upon  every  fact  and    event  ;  for  the    great 


6s6  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

use  of  history  is  to  stimulate  us  by  the  influence  of  good 
examples  followed  out  to  their  results,  so  that  truth  is  the 
main  or  absolute  necessity  in  the  study  of  history  ;  and 
again,  how  different  is  the  field  of  logical  criticism  from 
that  of  either  literary  or  historical  criticism,  logical  criti- 
cism being  the  analysis  of  the  process  of  the  mind  in  pure 
thought,  or  in  the  creation  of  a  genuine  thought-product. 
When  we  come  to  rhetorical  criticism,  with  which  we 
have  now  specially  to  do,  we  find  ourselves  shut  up  to  the 
department  of  oratorical  production,  whose 

*    *^      end  is  a  mixed  one,  combining  beauty  with 
rhetorical  ,       .,•  r^^ 

criticism      reason  and  utility.     The  orator  does  not  aim 

simply  to  be  eloquent  but  to  be  true  ;  and 

not  simply  to  be  true  but  to  be  useful,  or  to  effect  some 

great  practical  end  ;  and  if  he  be  eloquent  or  forcible  in 

style,  it  is  not  for  the  sake  of  being  eloquent,  but  for  the 

sake  of  securing  some  worthy  and  important  object. 

The  chief  field  of  rhetorical  criticism  is  style,  using 
that  word,  however,  in  its  largest  and  best  sense.  It 
judges,  or  should  do  so,  of  the  merits  and  faults  of  style 
from  a  standard  of  invariable  principles  which  form  a 
higher  code,  derived  from  nature  and  from  the  best 
models  of  writing  and  speaking — and,  in  the  homiletical 
department  of  rhetoric,  from  the  best  standards  of  preach- 
ing. 

The  critical  faculty  which  is  called  into  play  in  rheto- 
rical criticism,  though  not  in  itself  a  productive  quality 
of  the  mind,  or  one  that  aids  especially  in  the  development 
of  rhetorical  power — for  criticism  is  essentially  analytic 
and  destructive  rather  than  synthetic  and  creative — yet 
comes  in  its  right  place  after  the  productive  faculties  have 
done  their  work  ;  and  it  has  no  office  without  them,  being 
itself  the  purely  judicial  function  of  the  mind. 

But  this  judicial  faculty  of  the  mind  has  as  true  a  place 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  637 

and  object  as  the  productive  faculty  ;  neither  does  it  re- 
quire the  possession  of  the  productive  or  creative  faculty 
in  any  eminent  degree  that  one  may  be  a  good  critic. 
One  who  is  not  a  painter  may  still  be  a  good  critic  of 
painting  ;  one  who  is  not  a  poet  may  be  a  good  critic  of 
poetry  ;  one  who  is  not  even  an  orator  or  preacher  may 
be  a  good  critic  of  preaching.  Critics  may,  it  is  true, 
make  mistakes  in  regard  to  a  work  of  art,  or  a  product  of 
the  human  mind,  as  contemporaneous  critics  did  in  rela- 
tion to  Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost,"  and  to  Wordsworth's 
poems  ;  but  it  is  the  critical  faculty  after  all  which  judges 
of  these  works  and  assigns  them  their  proper  place  ;  for 
even  these  great  authors  must  make  their  final  appeal  to 
those  psychological  and  artistic  standards  of  judgment 
that  are  invariable  and  universal.  This  critical  faculty 
comes  as  a  corrective  and  regulative  one,  measuring  the 
work  performed  by  some  perfect  measure,  or  by  the  ap- 
plication of  some  right  knowledge  of  the  subject  in  its 
truest  and  most  comprehensive  principles.  And,  above 
all,  one  should  have  the  measure  in  himself,  so  as  to  be  able 
to  test  and  compare  for  himself,  constantly  increasing  his 
knowledge,  and  thus  approximating  more  and  more  to  the 
true  standard  ;  never  falling  into  the  fatal  error  of  self- 
conceit,  and  of  thinking  himself  to  be  faultless,  but,  in 
another's  words,  "  laboring  on  and  cherishing  the  holy 
fire  of  discontent  with  all  his  attainments." 

The  first  quality,  then,  of  a  good  critic  we  would  say,  is 
Knowledge.  He  should  possess  some  true  knowledge  of 
the  field  in  which  he  exercises  criticism.   He 

should  be   able,  to  some  extent  at  least,  to      ^"*  *  *^* 

of  the 
comprehend  the  individual  in  the  universal,         critic 

or  the  underlying  principles  of  all  art  which 

are,  when  properly  viewed,  seen  to  be  bound  together  by 

a  common  bond.     Yet  knowledge  alone  is  not  sufficient 


638  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

to  make  the  good  critic,  for  the  critical  faculty  is,  in  some 
sense,  an  innate  faculty  of  the  mind,  and  although  it  is 
dev^eloped  by  exercise  and  education,  it  has  its  origin  in 
certain  subtle  and  profound  qualities  of  the  intellect 
which  belong  to  the  mental  constitution,  so  that  some 
possess  intuitively  the  critical  faculty  to  a  much  greater 
degree  than  others. 

Next,  then,  to  the  element  of  knowledge  is  the  element 
of  Taste,  or  that  literary  sensibility  which  is  partly  a  gift 
of  nature,  and  partly  the  fruit  of  culture.  It  is  mainly 
instinctive  or  intuitive,  being  a  sense  of  proportion  and 
fitness,  quantity  and  quality,  order  and  relation,  which 
exists  in  the  mind  itself,  and  which,  though  more  vague 
and  unscientific  in  its  origin,  as  belonging  to  the  mental 
sensibilities,  yet  by  its  education  and  disciplined  use  be- 
comes almost  certain  in  its  operation,  like  a  pure  intel- 
lectual judgment. 

The  third  quality  of  the  critic  which  may  be  mentioned 
is  Truth,  or  the  love  of  truth.  Matthew  Arnold  says  that 
it  is  the  business  of  the  critical  power  "  in  all  branches  of 
knowledge,  theology,  philosophy,  history,  art,  science, 
to  see  the  object  as  in  itself  it  really  is. "  The  critic 
must  be  able  to  enter  into  the  real  nature  of  the  subject, 
and  must  live  in  the  true  and  best  ideas  of  the  art,  or 
the  department  of  truth  in  which  he  exercises  his  critical 
skill.  He  must  cherish  high  ideals  of  it.  He  must  at 
least  have  some  well-settled  order  of  ideas,  some  compre- 
hensive philosophy  of  criticism,  some  actual  foundation 
in  principles,  or  his  criticism  will  be  at  best  but  a  snap- 
judgment.  And  at  the  same  time  he  should  be  conver- 
sant with  the  real  working  of  those  principles,  or  the  influ- 
ence and  tendencies  of  certain  ideas  or  systems  of  ideas, 
so  that  he  has  a  practical  appreciation  of  their  truth. 

Upon  the  uses   of  rhetorical   criticism    Richard    Grant 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  639 

White  thus  remarks  :  "  Criticism,  however,  is  needed  to 
keep  our  language  from    deterioration,   to 

defend  it  against  the  assaults  of  presuming  ses  o 

^  i  t^      rhetorical 

half-knowledge,  always  bolder  than  wisdom,  criticism, 
always  more  perniciously  intrusive  than  con- 
scious ignorance.  Language  must  always  be  made  by 
the  mass  of  those  who  use  it  ;  but  when  that  mass  is 
misled  by  a  little  learning — a  dangerous  thing  only  as 
edge  tools  are  dangerous  to  those  who  will  handle  them 
without  understanding  their  use — and  undertakes  to 
make  language  according  to  knowledge  rather  than  by 
instinct,  confusion  and  disaster  can  be  warded  off  only 
by  criticism.  Criticism  is  the  child  and  handmaid  of 
reflection.  It  works  by  censure,  and  censure  implies  a 
standard."  '  We  have  made  this  quotation  chiefly  for 
the  sake  of  the  last  sentence,  "  It  works  by  censure, 
and  censure  implies  a  standard." 

The  chief  practical  use  and  direction  of  criticism  un- 
doubtedly is  to  discover  and  point  out  faults,  and  thus  to 
lead  to  their  correction. 

By  the  application  of  some  right  rule  or  principle 
the  exact  deviation  from  right  in  the  particular  case  is 
to  be  brought  out,  and  here  the  exercise  of  the  judg- 
ment in  criticism  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  This 
critical  judgment  is  the  power  of  separating  the  true 
from  the  false,  the  power  of  clear  discrimination,  the 
power  of  deciding  between  opposites,  in  which  the  unim- 
passioned  judicial  reason  predominates  while  the  literarj^ 
sense  is  not  wanting.  It  implies  the  ability  also  to  state 
good  grounds  for  the  judgment  pronounced,  and  thus 
there  should  be  in  the  critic  himself  some  foundations  of 
truth,  of  right  principles,  and  of  good  taste,  some  accu- 


"  Words  and  their  Uses,"  p.  26. 


640  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

rate  standard  of  judgment,  for  his  criticism  to  be  of 
authority.  But  while  the  deviation  from  right,  while  the 
censure  of  error,  while  the  pointing  out  of  faults  is,  it 
cannot  be  questioned,  the  main  practical  use  and  idea  of 
criticism,  yet  there  is  no  doubt  but  that,  looking  at  criti- 
cism purely  as  a  matter  relating  to  art,  it  is  also  a  true 
and  noble  use  of  criticism  (and  in  this  idea  Mr.  Ruskin 
concurs)  to  be  able  to  point  out  the  excellences  and  beau- 
ties of  a  given  work,  to  appreciate  and  make  known  its 
merits  and  its  conformity  to  the  universal  standard  of 
beauty  and  truth.  Perhaps  this  is  the  highest  end  of 
criticism,  to  settle  the  merits  of  human  productions.  The 
highest  criticism  is  that  which  points  out  great  ideals 
and  is  able  to  discover  every  approximation,  however 
slight,  to  those  ideals. 

This  is  a  noble  and  pleasing  side  of  criticism  which  is 
sometimes  perhaps  overlooked,  but  it  is  not  strange  that 
it  should  be  overlooked,  since  the  work-a-day  function  of 
criticism  is  not  to  praise  but  rather  to  correct,  and  the 
actual  profitableness  of  criticism  depends  upon  its  ability 
to  mark  defects  more  than  to  mark  beauties.  The  last, 
as  it  were,  mark  themselves.  Beauty  needs  no  praise. 
It  were  almost  absurd  for  us  to  praise  the  Portland  vase, 
or  a  statue  of  Phidias,  or  an  oration  of  Demosthenes. 

In  regard  to  rhetorical  criticism  as  a  practical  exercise 
among  students  and  homiletically  adapted,  its  advan- 
tages are  by  no  means  confined  to  the  subject  of  it, 
though  its  benefits  doubtless  mainly  accrue  to  the  sub- 
ject of  it  ;  but  the  critic  himself  is  to  a  certain  degree 
profited  by  this  exercise,  when  rightly  conducted. 

He  is  thrown  back  upon  his  knowledge  of  principles, 
and  is  forced  to  assume  a  high,  just,  and  comprehen- 
sive view  of  the  theme.  Every  mental  faculty  is  appealed 
to  ;  rapid  generalization  and  comparison  are  demanded  ; 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  641 

the  powers  of  analysis  and  of  positive  judgment  are  de- 
veloped. To  take  even  an  ordinary  written  sentence 
apart,  to  analyze  it  and  show  wherein  it  violates  truth, 
taste,  and  good  grammar  and  good  sense  ;  or,  above 
all,  positively  to  build  up  a  new  plan  of  discourse  upon 
right  principles — this  tends  to  give  the  mind  alertness, 
concentration,  and  self-confidence. 

Nevertheless  he  who  is  the  most  benefited  is  the  sub- 
ject of  criticism  ;  for  so  invariably  self-confident  is  human 
nature  that  he  who  is  never  told  his  faults  is  rarely  apt 
to  discover  them.  Wc  criticise  others  but  not  ourselves. 
We  commit  the  same  faults  that  we  criticise  in  others  ; 
so  that  he  who  is  not  tried  can  rarely  be  perfect  ;  for 
few  men  have  become  good  writers  who  have  not  at 
some  time  in  their  lives  undergone  severe  criticism. 
Shakespeare  himself  endured  it  at  the  hands  of  his  con- 
temporaries, though  it  was  of  a  jealous  and  envenomed 
sort  ;  but  he  who  availed  himself  of  everything  and 
passed  over  nothing,  probably  profited  even  by  that.  If 
the  poet  Keats  was  killed  by  criticism,  Byron  was  thor- 
oughly aroused  by  it  ;  and  what  was  singular,  the  criti- 
cism in  the  case  of  the  first  was  in  the  main  unjust,  and 
in  the  case  of  the  second  was  deserved. 

Among  distinguished  public  orators,  the  younger  Pitt, 
Charles  James  Fox  in  his  early  days,  Sheridan,  and 
D'Israeli  are  said  to  have  been  greatly  improved  and 
developed  as  speakers  by  the  excessively  harsh  ordeal  of 
criticism  which  they  underwent  ;  for  they  had  the 
sagacity  and  nerve  to  profit  by  it.  By  their  power  of 
will  they  turned  their  disadvantages  into  advantages  ; 
they  snatched  victory  from  the  jaws  of  defeat,  and  they 
made  even  their  enemies  teach  them  success.  Burke 
says  :  "  Our  antagonist  is  our  helper.  This  conflict  with 
difficulty  obliges  us  to  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  qur 


642  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

object,  and  compels  us  to  consider  it  in  all  its  relations. 
It  will  not  suffer  us  to  be  superficial." 

Criticism  for  the  moment  humbles,  but  he  who  would 
build  high  must  build  low.  Nothing  touches  a  man's 
pride  more  sensitively  than  the  criticism  of  his  style  of 
writing  and  speaking,  since  "  the  style  is  the  man." 

But  no  honest  criticism  is  to  be  totally  disregarded  or 
despised.  In  the  biography  of  Dr.  Griffin  it  is  related 
that  that  divine  used  often  to  read  his  sermon  to  his  black 
servant  Horace  before  preaching  it,  and  he  did  not 
despise  suggestions  from  such  a  quarter.  The  criticism, 
in  the  particular  form  in  which  it  comes,  may  be  wrong  or 
unjust  and  sometimes  malicious  ;  but  it  may  nevertheless 
have  been  called  forth  by  some  real  defect  which  lies 
deep  in  the  thought  or  the  style — something  perhaps  in- 
definable to  the  critic  himself,  but  which  he  perceives 
instinctively  even  if  he  is  not  able  fairly  to  set  it  forth. 

At  all  events,  a  preacher  may  not  expect  to  escape  criti- 
cism at  some  time  of  his  public  career.  He  will  be  criti- 
cised severely  and  unmercifully  by  somebody,  and  per- 
haps by  those  who  are  opposed  or  inimical  to  him.  He 
cannot  avoid  this.  Is  it  not  then  better  to  be  criticised 
openly  by  one's  friends,  from  the  motive  of  friendship, 
and  thus  to  be  fortified  and  prepared  against  the  criti- 
cism of  opposers  and  of  the  world  ?  In  this  way  one  may 
be  saved  from  future  mortification,  disappointment,  and 
even  worse  injury  and  shame. 

In  the  criticism  of  sermons  before  the  theological  class, 
we  consider  the  friendly  criticisms  cf  classmates  to  be  of 
more  practical  use  than  that  of  the  instructor  himself,  and 
the  instructor,  if  he  be  wise,  should,  we  think,  expect  and 
request  his  students  to  do  the  principal  share  of  it,  to 
throw  themselves  into  it  with  all  their  heart  and  strength 
as  a  most   improving  exercise.     Young  men  know  each 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  643 

Other,  and    each    other's    merits   and  faults    better  than 

their   instructor   knows  them,  and  they  should  feel   the 

burden   of  responsibility  laid   upon   them    to   help   each 

other  in  this  really  high  and  unselfish  way. 

In  regard  to  the  subject-matter  of  rhetorical  criticism 

or   the    criticism  of   a   discourse,  this    is  comprehended 

chiefly  in  two  particulars,  1st.  Form,  or  the 

expression  into  which  the  thought  is  cast  as         "  •'^*'  ' 
^  .  ...  matter  of 

the  grand  instrument  of  persuasion,  or  what      criticism 

is  commonly  called  style  ;  and,  2d.  Matter, 
or  the  substance  of  the  thought  itself,  both  in  its  essence 
and  its  arrangement,  or  plan  ;  and  especially  in  this  last 
essential  in  the  criticism  of  a  sermon.  We  would  add 
that  the  criticism  of  style  extends  even  to  purely  gram- 
matical criticism.  This  would  include  verbal  criticism  or 
the  criticism  of  words  in  regard  to  their  usage,  according 
to  the  best  standards,  and  the  composition  of  sentences, 
or  the  syntactical  structure  of  sentences,  so  as  to  avoid 
all  equivocal  expressions,  ambiguous  constructions,  and 
wrong  arrangements  of  phrases,  and  so  as  to  give  the 
greatest  force  and  effectiveness  to  style.  The  higher 
idea  of  the  criticism  of  style  itself  is,  however,  rational 
and  spiritual,  rather  than  merely  verbal.  In  the  subject 
of  preaching  of  course  the  matter  or  the  thought  is  more 
important  than  the  style  as  the  great  theme  of  criticism. 
As  to  the  spirit  in  which  this  exercise  of 
rhetorical  criticism  should  be  made,  it  should       Spirit  in 

ever  be  conducted  in  the  spirit  of  perfect     ^  ^^ 

cism  should  be 
candor  and  love  ;  and  when  criticism  is  thus      made  and 

guarded  by  the  spirit  of  love,  and  aims  sole-       received. 

ly  at  truth  and  the  good  of  the  subject,  it 

is  more  apt  to  attain  its  true  object  and  to  do  good  than 

if  it  proceed  from  a  spirit  of  satire  or  a  bitter  spirit.      All 

criticism  should  thus  be  ''  bene  fie  a,  non  venefiea." 


644  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

But  very  much  of  the  true  benefits  of  rhetorical  criti- 
cism depends  upon  its  right  reception  by  the  subject  of 
it.  If  the  subject  of  it  gives  way  to  a  weak  chagrin,  or 
suffers  himself  to  be  discouraged  and  overwhelmed,  it  will 
do  him  but  little  good.  Or  if  he  refuses  to  acknowledge 
the  justice  of  the  criticism,  even  if  true,  and  fights  against 
it,  he  only  confirms  himself  in  his  habitual  error.  He 
should  not,  it  is  true,  yield  his  independence  of  mind  to 
any  man,  for  he  may  be  right  after  all,  and  his  critic 
may  be  wrong.  A  man  must  have  confidence  in  himself 
and  in  his  own  thinking  or  he  is  lost  as  a  speaker. 
This  is  the  first  requisite  of  good  speaking,  as  another 
says,  "  For  when  the  speaker  fully  believes  that  his 
thought  is  good,  and  ought  to  have  weight  with  the  audi- 
ence, this  conviction  releases  him  from  the  anxiety  and 
torment  of  fear  lest  he  should  fail,  or  make  a  fool  of  him- 
self, and  thus  tends  to  purify  his  elocution  from  the 
vices  with  which  the  expression  of  these  feelings  must 
otherwise  load  and  enfeeble  it."  Yet  he  is  bound,  at  the 
same  time,  to  give  every  criticism  the  just  consideration 
which  it  deserves.  Above  all,  he  should  set  himself  man- 
fully to  work  to  overcome  the  fault  or  faults  which  criti- 
cism has  developed.  Instead  of  despising  it  he  should 
conquer  it.  Thus  rhetorical  criticism  may,  in  this  man- 
ner, benefit  the  character  as  much  as  it  does  the  style  or 
preaching  of  a  man  ;  for  he  who  has  the  good  sense  and 
manliness  to  recognize  and  overcome  a  fault  of  style  in 
speaking,  will  probably  have  the  power  of  will  to  over- 
come a  fault  of  character,  and  thus,  in  the  main,  the 
whole  man  will  be  improved  by  friendly  and  judicious 
criticism. 

As  a  general  remark,  more  especially  upon  the  criticism 
of  preachers  and  of  sermons,  we  would  say  that  to  a 
great  extent  sermons  take  themselves  out  of  the  common 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  645 

sphere  of  rhetorical  criticism,  on  account  of  their  more 

elevated  and  serious  aim  which  rises  above 

the  idea  of  mere  art,  of  literary  taste,  and      Criticism 

of  preaching 
of  rhetorical   standards  and   measures,  mto  ^^^  sermons 

the  region  of  moral  and  spiritual  truth. 
Where  there  is  in  the  preacher  and  in  his  sermon  sin- 
cerity, faithfulness  to  divine  truth,  earnestness  of  aim 
directed  to  the  salvation  of  souls,  we  do  not  feel  like 
applying  to  him  or  to  it  the  fine  chemical  tests  of  rhetori- 
cal criticism. 

Power  of  any  sort  is  above  criticism. 

The  poison  that  kills  or  the  medicine  that  cures  is  be- 
yond human  praise  or  blame.  Therefore  in  the  criti- 
cism of  sermons,  we  should  always  have  the  feeling  that 
in  some  sense  a  good  sermon,  inspired  by  the  Word* 
and  Spirit  of  God,  is  a  divine  work,  and  is  thus  beyond 
human  praise  and  blame  ;  it  comes  from  higher  sources 
than  either,  and  follows  higher  laws  than  either  ;  it  asks 
not  your  or  my  approbation  ;  it  cares  not  for  your  or  my 
censure  ;  it  looks  to  the  judgment  and  approval  of  God. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  in  so  far  as  a  sermon  is  a 
human  production,  is  a  work  of  art,  is  a  discourse  formed 
upon  rhetorical  and  ethical  principles,  we  have  a  right  to 
judge  its  style,  its  reasoning,  its  theology,  its  conclusions, 
in  a  word  both  its  matter  and  its  manner  ;  and  this  is 
especially  needful  in  the  time  of  preparation,  when,  it 
must  be  confessed,  sermons  are  generally  more  or  less 
works  of  art,  more  or  less  artificial,  smack  more  or  less 
of  the  schools  both  of  theology  and  rhetoric,  and  are  not 
yet  entirely  filled  with  the  spirit  of  a  divine  earnestness, 
simplicity,  and  practicality. 

We  cannot  do  better  in  closing  this  brief  lecture  on 
rhetorical  criticism  than  to  quote  an  extended  passage 
applying  chiefly  to  the  manner  or    delivery  of   sermons, 


646  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

which  we  have  freely  translated  from  Athanase  Coquerel's 
''Observations  pratiques  sur  la  Predication,"  in  a  chap- 
ter entitled  "  The  Benefit  of  Good  Counsels,"  while  we 
must  regard  with  some  allowance  the  French  point  of 
view"  in  which  some  of  the  remarks  are  made.  He  goes 
on  to  say  : 

"  Since  no  preacher  knows  how  he  preaches,  some  one 

must  tell  him  how  he  preaches.     If  sins  of  ignorance  are 

rare    in    morals    they  are    common    in    elo- 

Quotation     quence,  and   when   one  tries   of   himself  to 

from         correct  them   he  knows  not   really  whether 

oquere       ^^gy  ^re  corrected  or  not.    The  errors  which 
on  the 
benefits  of    ^^^^  orator  unconsciously  contracts  are  ordi- 

friendly  narily  what  are  called,  and  very  justly,  natural 
criticism.  errors,  so  that  one  acquires  a  deplorable 
facility  of  falling  into  them  every  moment, 
and  a  long  and  painful  watchfulness  is  necessary,  a  sort 
of  struggle  with  one's  self,  to  extirpate  them.  We  can 
apply  these  remarks  especially  to  two  departments  of  de- 
livery, the  difficulty  and  importance  of  which  are  extreme, 
viz.,  gesture  and  the  inflections  of  the  voice.  Without 
having  recourse  to  an  intelligent,  attentive,  and  severe 
criticism,  one  may  not  be  certain  that  his  gesture  and  ac- 
centuation have  not  considerable  defects  ;  and  how  many 
preachers  injure  themselves  seriously,  and  compromise 
their  success  by  continual  indulgence  in  some  odd  move- 
ment of  the  arms  or  hands  which  has  become  a  habit, 
or  by  tones,  cadences,  and  tremblings  of  voice,  repeated 
to  weariness  though  without  intention. 

"  How  many  others  fall  into  the  serious  fault  of  ges- 
ticulating, not  by  sentences,  but  by  words  ;  which  pro- 
duces a  jerking  gesture  of  the  most  melancholy  effect, 
and  leads  to  clipping  each  period  into  as  many  parts  as 
one  makes  motions  !     The  constant  recurrence  of  these 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  647 

faults  of  delivery  is  a  manifest  proof  of  the  lack  of  good 
criticism. 

*'  One  can  go  further  still  and  maintain  that  neither  the 
exactness  and  elegance  of  gesture,  nor  the  happy  use  of 
the  voice  are  things  one  learns  but  things  which  one  cor- 
rects. Every  one  practises  that  kind  of  gesticulation 
which  comes  to  him  naturally  ;  every  one  has  an  accent 
of  voice  with  which  he  speaks  naturally,  and  an  habitual 
direction  of  the  movements  of  the  body,  of  the  head,  of 
the  chest,  of  the  arms,  and  even  of  the  fingers.  The 
natural  intonations  of  the  voice  grow  with  us,  are  formed 
through  infancy,  youth,  and  manhood,  and  engraft  them- 
selves, so  to  speak,  upon  our  person  long  before  age,  or 
study,  or  the  exercise  of  the  oratorical  art,  commences. 
Thus  every  one  reaches  his  first  essays  in  eloquence,  hav- 
ing a  trick  of  gesticulating  in  a  certain  manner,  of  utter- 
ing the  sound  of  his  voice  by  impressing  upon  it  a  certain 
tone.  This  natural  gesture  he  may  strive  to  regulate  ; 
this  voice  already  formed  he  may  strive  to  modulate  ; 
but  success  seems  impossible  if  one  attempts  to  teach 
one's  self  these  portions  of  the  art.  One  learns  them 
only  by  practical  directions  and  counsels. 

"Above  all,  upon  the  subject  of  intonation  one  can 
take  advice  with  confidence  ;  for  it  is  easier  to  criticise 
with  justice  tones  than  gestures,  and  orators  ought  to  be 
happy  that  it  is  so,  for  the  use  of  the  voice  in  oratorical 
art  is  more  important  than  gesticulation.  Varied,  happy, 
and  rapid  inflections  are  the  only  resource  against  the 
monotony  of  elocution — monotony — the  scourge  of  ora- 
tors, A  monotonous  preacher  will  never  be  eloquent  ;  and 
this  fault  is,  of  all,  the  most  troublesome,  because  noth- 
ing counterbalances  it,  nothing  makes  up  for  it,  it  distils 
dulness  from  the  heights  of  the  pulpit,  it  invites  sleep 
and  breaks  the  attention  of  those  who  succeed  in  keeping 


648  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

awake  ;  its  words  fall,  one  by  one,  in  regular  innumerable 
succession. 

"  The  saintly  Benedict  Prevost,  professor  at  Montauban. 
says  of  monotonous  preachers,  *  When  I  hear  their  dis- 
courses it  seems  to  me  that  it  snows.'  I  remember  after 
my  return  to  Paris  (retiring  from  the  faculty  of  Mon- 
tauban), John  Monod,  the  venerable  pastor,  with  whom 
my  family  has  had  most  intimate  relations  even  before 
baptismal  fonts,  and  whose  preaching  was  at  once  liberal 
and  full  of  unction,  asked  me  to  come  to  see  him. 
Hardly  was  I  seated  in  his  study  when  he  rose,  took  a 
volume  of  Saurin,  opened  it  at  the  peroration  of  the  ser- 
mon upon  the  '  eternity  of  punishment,'  and  said  to  me, 
'  Read  me  that.'  He  listened  to  me  with  attention 
without  interrupting  me,  and  afterwards  addressing  to 
me  encouragements  full  of  kindness  he  gave  me  much  ad- 
visory criticism  upon  the  inflections  and  their  superfluity 
in  this  reading  exercise  which  I  profited  by,  and  which 
are  still  after  many  years  fresh  in  my  memory.  One  can- 
not then  urge  too  strongly  upon  students  of  our  acade- 
mies, candidates  for  the  holy  ministry,  young  pastors,  and 
above  all  those  who  have  to  preach  often  and  who  have 
no  colleagues,  to  choose  among  their  accustomed  audi- 
ence a  friend  to  criticise,  and  to  question  after  the  ser- 
mon upon  the  impressions  he  has  received,  upon  the 
progress  or  the  relapses  which  have  struck  him.  It  is 
useless  to  add  that  two  advisers  are  better  than  one,  and 
their  observations  could  be  compared  with  benefit  ;  and  it 
is  very  rare  for  one  of  our  churches  to  be  so  reduced  as 
not  to  number  in  its  bosom  some  faithful  ones  to  render 
this  kind  of  service.  At  least  it  matters  not  that  we  ob- 
tain a  literary  critic,  for  common  sense  will  suffice. 

"  Sometimes  those  will  not  be  found  in  a  winter  audience 
who  will  be  present  in  a  summer  one.     In  many  rural 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  649 

districts  during  the  cold  season  the  inhabitants  of  the  vil- 
lage and  the  farms  in  the  vicinity  alone  are  present — when 
spring  returns,  the  mansions,  the  country  seats  of  the 
neighborhood,  receive  their  guests,  and  these  annual  re- 
turns of  a  more  cultivated  population  offer  a  precious 
resource.  If  a  critic,  or  an  adviser  has  been  found  in  one 
of  these  families,  it  will  be  very  useful  to  seek  to  know 
from  him  what  the  community  has  gained  or  lost  in  the 
course  of  a  season. 

"  As  for  the  rest,  I  come  back  upon  the  situation  of  an 
isolated  preacher  in  rural  churches.  [There  will  always 
be  strong-minded  hearers  fully  able  to  criticise  in  these 
rural  congregations  if  we  transfer  the  scene  from  France 
to  our  own  country  almost  anywhere.] 

"  The  considerations  presented  thus  far  suffice  perhaps 
to  demonstrate  the  uselessness  of  systems  and  treatises 
of  oratorical  art,  purely  theoretical.  If  there  be  an  art 
which  is  learned  only  by  practice  it  is  this  art,  and  if  this 
art  is  the  most  personal  of  all,  that  in  which  all  imitation 
conducts  only  to  the  saddest  mistakes,  that  of  which  the 
two  principal  parts,  gesture  and  accent,  are  only  amended 
and  are  not  acquired,  and  that  before  study  they  are 
already  well  or  ill  acquired,  the  weakness  of  mere  theory 
is  evident.  Of  what  service  are  lessons  of  this  kind  to  a 
pupil  incapacitated  from  knowing  himself,  and  who  finds 
himself  under  the  necessity  of  asking  from  a  third  person 
how  the  criticisms  are  to  be  applied. 

"  My  persuasion  of  the  justness  of  these  views  is  so 
heartfelt  that  I  am  led  to  consider  it  a  duty  to  write  these 
pages.  The  most  salutary  advice  is  that  which  experi- 
ence suggests,  and  who  can  better  advise  preachers  than  a 
preacher  like  themselves  ? 

"  Should  one  accuse  me  of  digression,  here  is  the  place 
to  make   some  observations  upon  the  course   of  sacred 


650  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

eloquence  111  our  faculties.  We  are  allowed  to  doubt 
whether  their  instruction  receives  the  necessary  develop- 
ment and  yields  all  the  fruits  which  one  has  a  right  to 
expect.  We  may  inquire,  especially,  if  the  regular  and 
frequent  exercises  of  recitation  and  declamation  of  pieces 
taken  from  our  loftiest  literature  are  put  in  practice  and 
followed  up  assiduously  by  the  pupils.  I  once  assisted 
at  lessons  of  this  kind,  directed  at  Geneva,  by  one  of  the 
most  eminent  men  of  his  academy,  my  excellent  friend 
Professor  Munier.  I  came  out  exceedingly  struck  with 
the  method  in  use,  and  with  the  immense  benefit  which 
students  might  derive  from  it.  This  method  is  very  sim- 
ple— one  of  the  young  men  recites  a  series  of  verses,  or 
a  fragment  of  prose — his  fellow-students  are  called  upon 
to  make  fraternal  criticisms  upon  his  delivery,  and  the 
professor  sums  up  in  discussing  in  his  turn  the  qualities 
or  the  defects  of  the  declamation  listened  to  and  the  re- 
marks which  it  has  excited.  Perhaps  it  would  be  best  to 
give  the  preference  to  pieces  of  poetry,  because  the 
rhythm  forces  the  memory  to  greater  attention  and  assists 
it  at  the  same  time,  prose  not  permitting  the  substitution 
of  one  word  for  another.  This  method  of  teaching  elo- 
quence is  the  only  one  which  teaches  it  really,  and  if 
these  exercises  are  not  in  frequent  use  in  our  faculties 
they  ought  to  be  introduced  or  multiplied.  This  method, 
it  is  seen,  is  essentially  practical,  avoids  all  peril  of  imita- 
tion or  of  copying,  and  resolves  itself  into  furnishing  the 
propitious  occasion  for  useful  advice.  For  a  single 
amendment,  or  to  better  express  myself,  a  single  addition 
to  be  made  to  this  system,  I  would  advise  the  study, 
phrase  by  phrase,  before  memorizing  it,  of  the  sense  of  the 
poetical  extract  or  the  selected  prose,  not  of  the  grammati- 
cal but  of  that  which  may  be  called  the  oratorical  sense. 
This  tends  to  emphasize  the  sentiments  with  which  the 


GENERAL    PRINCIPLES   OE  RHETORIC.  651 

poet  or  orator  was  animated  and  the  effect  whicli  he  de- 
signed to  produce  upon  those  who  listen.  AH  the  true 
shades  of  elocution  are  thus  indicated,  and  it  may  be 
affirmed  that  the  true  merit  of  dehvery,  the  most  vehe- 
ment as  well  as  the  most  tranquil,  consists  in  speak- 
ing truthfully.  In  the  excitement  of  delivery  if  you 
utter  a  cry  of  fury  with  the  same  tone  as  one  of  despair  ; 
in  the  calmness  of  delivery  if  you  speak  a  word  of  human 
praise  with  the  same  tone  as  a  supplication  to  the 
Almighty,  you  are  at  fault. 

"  Here  is  an  example  which  is  very  simple  and  will  ex- 
plain my  thought.  Orestes,  charged  by  the  Greeks  with 
obtaining  from  Pyrrhus  the  death  of  Astyanax,  whose 
resentment  might  one  day  prove  fatal  to  Greece  and  to 
Pyrrhus  himself,  said  to  the  King  of  Epirus  : 

"  '  At  last  let  the  desire  of  all  the  Greeks  be  satisfied, 
Gratify  their  revenge  and  secure  your  own  life.' 

It  would  be  wrong  in  an  oratorical  sense  to  pronounce 
the  last  line  in  the  same  tone  as  the  first  ;  the  first  line  is 
a  demand,  a  request  ;  the  second  a  counsel,  a  warning  ; 
you  do  not  make  a  request  with  the  same  accent  that  you 
give  advice.  Often  this  study,  well  conducted,  will  dis- 
cover the  words  in  which  to  give  the  true  force  of  the 
idea,  and  which  should  in  consequence  receive  the  em- 
phasis and  coloring  of  the  intonation. 

"  Sometimes,  even  among  the  best  authors,  the  orator- 
ical se'nse  of  a  phrase  may  be  the  subject  of  doubt,  and 
it  is  an  exercise  at  once  interesting  and  instructive  to 
arouse  among  beginners  a  discussion  upon  the  subject. 

"  In  one  word,  delivery  is  to  be  governed  by  the  sense. 
Theory  in  the  study  of  speaking  well  does  not  go  far- 
ther than  this,  and  seeks  only  to  define  the  sense.     The 


6s-!  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

remainder  of  the  study  will  be  entered  upon  by  the 
pupil  himself  with  advice  from  his  instructors  and  his 
friends." 

Sec.   28.  Elocution. 

We  would  treat  this  theme  more  as  a  matter  of    deliv- 
ery  than  as  a  special  method  of  preaching,  which  comes 

under  Homiletics  proper,  and  which  has 
Is  elocution  ^jj-g^dy  been  considered.  Some  writers  ob- 
a  constituent  .  •  ,      •        <<     1  •        >.  11 

.     J.       ject  to  considermg      elocution,     or  the  de- 
rhetoric?      livery  of  a  discourse,  as  a  legitimate  part   of 

rhetoric,  inasmuch  as  the  mode  of  com- 
municating thought  or  truth  is  not  the  essential  thing 
in  rhetoric,  but  rather  the  actual  communicating  of 
thought  itself.  It  is  also  held  that  elocution  is  not  a 
constituent  part  of  rhetoric,  because  there  are  ways  of 
communicating  thought  other  than  by  the  voice  ;  because 
we  have  a  complete  product  of  art  when  the  thought  is 
embodied  in  language  ;  and  because,  as  a  practical  mat- 
ter, in  teaching  the  two,  it  is  better  to  keep  them  apart.' 
But  we  think,  nevertheless,  that  anything  which  enables 
us  to  communicate  truth,  and  to  communicate  it  effect- 
ively, comes  legitimately  under  the  art  of  rhetoric.  The 
difference  is,  at  least,  practically,  slight.  For  aught  we 
can  see,  elocution  has  just  as  much  right  to  be  considered 
a  part  of  rhetoric  as  has  style  of  composition  ;  for  both 
contribute  to  the  effective  communication  of  truth.  At 
all  events,  if  elocution  is  not  in  the  strictest  sense  an  es- 
sential part  of  rhetoric,  yet  it  has  a  close  relation  to  it  ; 
and  if  rhetoric  be  confined,  as  we  have  limited  it  in  our 
definition,  to  the  art  of  spoken  public  discourse,  it  has  a 
vital  relation  to  it. 


'  Day's  "  Art  of  Discourse,"  pp.  14,  15. 


GENERAL   PRINCirLES  OF  RHETORIC.  053 

To  preach  forcibly  calls  out  not  only  what  Cicero 
designates  as  "  the  eloquence  of  the  body,"  but  the  in- 
tellectual    energies,    the    eloquence    of    the 

mind.      And  it  is  by  no  means  a  small  thing,   The  deepest 

,       ^.,  ,.  1  ,     ,  •  sources  of 

or  a  hastily-won  accomplishment,  to  acquire         ,    ,  ,. 

•'  ^  good  delivery 

the  art  of  a  good  delivery.     It  requires  great    intellectual 

pains  and  study  ;   for  it  is  not   a  mechanical     and  moral, 
art,  but  it  calls  in  play  the  taste,  the  judg- 
ment, the  moral  and  emotional  nature,  and  the  reasoning 
powers.      Talma,  the  tragedian,  used  to  say  that  thinking 
was  the  great  part  of  his  art. 

Since  speech  comes  from  the  inmost  parts  of  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral  nature,  and  is  the  distinguishing 
property  of  a  rational  creature,  the  true  source  of  elo- 
quent speaking  may  be  considered  to  be  eloquent 
thought.  One  half  of  delivery,  and  not  the  least  impor- 
tant half,  is  almost  a  purely  intellectual  exercise.  For  a 
good  and  full  treatment  of  this  part  of  the  subject,  laying 
open  what  are  the  deepest  sources  of  power  in  delivering 
that  are  to  be  found  in  thought  and  feeling,  in  the  nature 
and  states  of  the  soul,  and  which  it  is  impossible  to  treat 
in  the  short  space  devoted  to  this  subject,  we  would 
refer  our  readers  to  the  excellent  work  on  Elocution, 
by  Professor  J.  H.  Mcllvaine,  who  has  developed  this 
idea  in  a  skillful  manner. 

The  best  delivery  is  that  which  comes  from  the  best 
thought  and  the  most  earnest  feeling,  and  one  cannot 
disconnect  these  from  delivery  without  making  elocution 
an  artificial  thing,  hardly  worth  cultivating  ;  an  outside 
accomplishment  of  the  play-actor,  though  even  the  best 
actor  cannot  be  made  in  this  way.  The  close  connection 
between  thought  and  language,  between  meaning  and 
emphasis,  between  earnest  belief  and  efTective  delivery, 
between  emotion  and  its  true  yet  varied  modes  of  expres- 


6s 4  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

sion,  the  wonderful  symbolism  of  feeling  and  passion,  all 
these  prove  how  profound  and  subjective  are  the  sources 
of  power  in  delivery. 

The  author  just  referred  to  above  quotes  an  interest- 
ing remark  by  Ole  Bull,  the  violinist,  as  going  to  il- 
lustrate by  an  analogy  in  another  art  the  relations  of 
the  speaker  to  his  audience  and  how,  through  his  voice 
as  an  instrument,  he  seizes  the  audience  with  his  mind. 
"When  the  artist  by  his  performance  had  melted  a  great 
audience  to  tears,  he  said,  speaking  of  this,  "  Do  you 
know  that  I  do  not  produce  these  effects  by  the  mere 
sounds  of  my  violin .?  I  produce  them  by  the  direct 
action  of  my  mind  upon  the  minds  of  the  audience.  I 
employ  the  tones  of  the  instrument  simply  for  the  pur- 
pose of  opening  the  channels  through  which  I  myself  act 
upon  their  hearts. "  We  can  hardly  make  too  much  of 
this  realization  of  direct  address  to  the  audience,  of  a 
conscious  determination  to  grasp  their  minds  with  his 
mind,  as  having  relation  to  the  orator's  power  of  de- 
livery. The  preacher  should  not  deliver  a  monologue, 
but  should  always  feel  that  he  is  speaking  to  others 
— that  he  has  an  audience — that  he  is  to  move  and 
affect  it.  Nor  can  we  overestimate  the  influence  in 
speaking  of  the  qualities  of  the  will,  of  the  imagina- 
tion, and  of  the  sympathies  ;  and  it  might  be  added 
that  if  "  eloquence  is  the  joint  product  of  the  mental 
action  of  the  speaker  and  the  audience,"  the  quali- 
ties just  mentioned  have  a  far  freer  and  more  forcible 
play  in  extemporaneous  speaking  than  in  any  other  kind. 
But  that  the  mental  powers  come  largely  into  delivery, 
if  indeed  it  be  not  mere  sound  and  fury  signifying  noth- 
ing, cannot  be  denied.  Who,  indeed,  can  doubt  but 
that,  while  very  intellectual  men  are  not  always  good 
speakers,  yet  that  mind  has  a  vast  deal  to  do  with  good 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  655 

delivery  ;  and  that  the  highest  results  of  good  speaking, 
of  true  eloquence,  cannot  be  reached  without  the  pres- 
ence and  action  of  corresponding  qualities  of  mind. 

Next  to  the  intellectual  and  moral  sources  of  power 
in  delivery  are  those  which  are  more  purely  physical. 
These  comprise  the  proper  vital  and  bodily 

conditions   of  the   speaker,  the  state  of    the 

physical 
healthful  activity  of  all  his  powers  of  sensi-      qualities 

bility,  passion,  physical  energy,  and  the 
maintaining  and  training  of  these,  so  that  the  orator,  or 
preacher,  always,  or  as  a  general  rule,  may  speak  at  his 
best,  in  his  best  mood,  to  the  best  advantage,  and  with 
the  highest  and  most  vigorous  use  of  all  his  faculties. 
The  orator  is  the  highest  idea  of  the  man,  physical  and 
intellectual.  It  is  the  good  working  order  of  these  vital 
forces  that  inspires  the  brain  with  activity  and  gives  ani- 
mation and  power  to  all  that  is  spoken.  This  is  the  fire 
under  the  machinery.  This  is  the  earthly  or  animal  base, 
so  to  speak,  of  the  higher  operations  of  the  soul — and  a 
very  important  foundation  it  is  ;  for  a  speaker  of  feeble 
vitality  may  have  good  thoughts,  but  he  will  most  likely 
fail  to  impress  them  upon  others.  A  man  may  have  all 
the  truth  in  the  world,  but  he  must  learn,  in  addition,  to 
give  an  effective  utterance  to  the  truth  which  he  has. 

Then  there  is  a  still  deeper  idea  than  all  this  that  we 
have  heretofore  noticed,  in  the  delivery  of  a  sermon,  or 

in    true    preaching,    as    distinguished     from 

,         ,  ,    ,.  .      .  Spiritual 

every  other  form  of  discourse,  m  its  connec-      qualities 

tion  with  spiritual  instrumentalities,  and 
viewed  as  a  medium  of  communicating  divine  truth. 
What  was  Whitefield's  preaching,  looked  at  as  an  instru- 
ment of  the  conversion  of  men,  without  his  peculiar  power 
of  delivery  ?  In  such  a  delivery  the  Holy  Spirit  has  the 
chief  controlling  influence  ;  the  highest  activities  of  the 


656  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

spiritual  as  well  as  intellectual  life  are  engaged  in  it  ;  and 
the  whole  man  is  raised  and  transformed  into  an  instru- 
ment of  God's  truth. 

Whately  is  inclined  to  the  view  that  the  study  of  elo- 
cution renders  the  speaker  artificial  ;    but  preachers  do 
not  usually  err  from  carrying  the  art  of  elo- 

Whatelys     ^ution  to   an    undue    extent,  but  err    rather 
view  of  . 

J      ..  from  a  careless  and   unimpressive   manner. 

Of  course,  exclusive  attention  should  not  be 
given  to  the  delivery,  and  in  the  act  of  speaking,  elocu- 
tion should  be  forgotten  ;  but  this  is  not  saying  that 
much  may  not  be  done  in  private  to  produce  an  uncon- 
sciously noble  delivery.  The  soldier  forgets  his  drill  in 
action,  but  his  drill  makes  him  a  better  soldier. 

The  study  of  elocution  has  its  good  effects  upon  style. 

One  will  be  more  careful  to  adapt  his  style  to  the  purposes 

of   speech — to    make    it    easy,    strong,    and 

Good  effect    flQ^i^g^      What,  in  many  respects,  could  be 

of  the  study        ,  ,  ,      .  ,       •    n 

J.    J      ..       a  better  spoken  style  for  popular  intiuence 

on  style,  than  Daniel  Webster's  ?  and  that  was  gained 
by  speaking — by  speaking  to  courts,  to 
senates,  to  great  audiences  of  human  beings,  for  immedi- 
ate effect  and  conviction.  It  was  the  fruit  of  his  contact 
and  contest  with  other  minds  on  public  occasions.  His 
style  became  fitted  to  his  delivery.  The  actual  delivery 
of  his  thoughts  improved  and  vitalized  his  style.  And 
the  benefits  of  a  good  delivery  upon  an  audience  are 
great  ;  by  his  look,  tone,  gesture,  a  speaker  infuses  him- 
self into  his  hearers'  minds,  and  makes  them  for  the  time 
think  and  feel  as  he  does.  Robert  Hall,  it  is  said,  had 
the  art,  not  only  of  communicating  what  he  said,  but 
of  communicating  himself,  to  his  audience.  It  was  the 
whole  man  speaking.  That  is  true  eloquence.  How 
many  preachers  have  been  intellectual  men  and  weighty 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  657 

thinkers,  who  never  could  thus  communicate  themselves 
or  their  thoughts  to  other  minds  ! 

The  delivery  of  a  public  discourse  implies  especially 
four  things  :  Enunciation,  Pronunciation,  Emphasis,  and 
Action. 

I.   Enunciation.     This  has  regard  to  the  fulness   and 

perfectness  of  vocal  sound  in  speaking,  and  it   includes 

the  whole  matter   of  the  management  and 

Enunciation 
training  of  the  voice — a  subject  of  no  little  ^^^^j  ^j^^  ^^j^^ 

importance  to  the  preacher.  There  are  few 
voices — particularly  if  they  belong  to  men  whom  God  has 
called  to  be  the  heralds  of  his  truth — so  faulty  and  so 
weak  by  nature  that  they  may  not  be  made,  by  a  per- 
severing and  intelligent  training,  effective,  and,  it  maybe, 
powerful.  One  must  set  to  work  and  make  a  voice  if  he 
have  it  not.  It  is  well,  therefore,  to  acquaint  one's 
self  thoroughly  with  the  physiology  of  the  organs  of 
the  voice,  which  are  so  delicate,  complicated,  and  won- 
derful. If  a  musician  should  perfectly  know  his  instru- 
ment, and  should  exercise  care  in  preserving  the  vigor 
and  purity  of  its  tone,  so  that  it  may  be  ready  to  give 
forth  the  mightiest  and  the  most  delicate  tones,  how 
much  more  should  the  speaker  understand  and  guard 
his  more  exquisite  instrument  !  The  first  simple,  com- 
mon-sense axiom  in  regard  to  the  voice  is,  that  it  de- 
pends for  its  strength  and  clearness  upon  a  general 
sound  state  of  health.  A  man  in  bad  health  will  show 
it  in  his  voice,  in  its  feebleness  or  harshness  ;  for  in  ill 
health,  the  muscular  system,  upon  which  the  voice  de- 
pends, is  relaxed  ;  and  a  man  with  a  cracked  voice  is  lit- 
tle better  than  a  cracked  bell  or  a  cracked  musical  instru- 
ment. The  preacher  should  strive  to  maintain  a  good, 
vigorous  tone  of  health,  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  a 
good  vocal  tone.      He  should  regard  his  body  as  an  in- 


658  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

strument  in  God's  hands  to  proclaim  his  word  ;  it  should 
be  kept  strong  and  pure,  as  the  medium  of  divine  inspira- 
tion and  instruction.  The  "  Baptist's"  living  in  the  free 
solitudes  of  nature  and  feeding  upon  locusts  and  wild 
honey  may  have  had  something  to  do  in  making  that 
strong  "  voice"  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness  "  Prepare 
ye  the  way  of  the  Lord." 

Cicero  said,  "  For  the  effectiveness  and  glory  of  de- 
livery, the  voice,  doubtless,  holds  the  first  place."  He 
had  great  trouble  with  his  own  voice,  and  took  unwearied 
pains  with  it.  "At  the  age  of  seven  and  twenty,  he 
had,  owing  to  the  vehemence  of  his  oratory  and  great 
constitutional  weakness,  so  injured  his  voice  that  he  was 
strongly  advised  by  his  physicians  and  nearest  friends,  to 
abandon  his  profession.  He  refused.  He  determined 
to  see  whether,  by  bringing  his  voice  down  to  a  lower 
and  more  moderate  key,  he  might  not  retain  his  health, 
and  lose  none  of  his  effectiveness  as  a  speaker.  For  this 
purpose  he  went  to  Greece,  placed  himself  under  the 
care,  first  of  Atticus,  then  of  Demetrius  the  Syrian  ;  and 
after  making  a  circuit  round  all  Asia,  in  company  with 
the  most  celebrated  orators  and  rhetoricians,  he  returned 
at  the  end  of  two  years,  quite  another  man.  His  way  of 
speaking  seemed  to  have  grown  cool,  and  his  voice  was 
rendered  much  easier  to  himself  and  much  sweeter  to  the 
audience."  ' 

Mcllvaine,  in  his  work  on  "  Elocution,"  gives  some 
practical  advice  to  preachers  in  the  use  of  the  voice 
as  regards  health.  "  A  full  and  healthy  action  of  the 
vital  forces  will  commonly,  with  due  attention  to  regimen, 
enable  the  speaker  to  command  the  favorable  mood  for 
each  occasion  of  speaking.     A  full  vitality  imparts  to  the 


'  Moore's  "  Thoughts  on  Preaching,"  p.  183. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES   OF  RHETORIC.  659 

voice  its  most  effective  qualities  and  powers,  and  a  cer- 
tain fulness  and  vivacity  to  the  speaking  ;  the  want  of  it 
enfeebles  the  delivery  in  a  corresponding  manner.  For 
the  reason  that  clergymen  are  compelled  to  speak  twice 
or  three  times  on  Sunday,  they  ought  never  to  leave  the 
study  later  than  at  noon  on  Saturday.  The  remainder 
of  the  day  should  be  devoted  to  rest,  and  exercise  in  the 
open  air,  and  the  night  to  sound  and  refreshing  sleep 
In  like  manner,  the  intervals  between  the  Sunday  ser- 
vices should  be  devoted  to  rest.  By  such  adequate  re- 
freshment and  renovation  of  the  vital  forces,  the  preacher 
may  make  the  latter  services  as  animated  and  interesting 
as  the  former;  which  is  the  more  desirable  in  order  to  over- 
come the  increasing  temptation  of  church-goers  to  stay 
at  home  in  the  afternoon.  For  whatsoever  is  worthy  of 
the  name  of  preaching  requires  the'exercise  of  the  whole 
vital  force  of  a  sound  and  healthy  man.  To  preach  the 
gospel  takes  all  there  is  or  can  ever  be  in  any  man." 

A  second  plain  axiom  in  regard  to  the  voice  is,  that 
one  should  speak  upon  a  full  inhalation  of  air.  The 
chest  or  the  lungs  is  the  seat  of  vocal  power.  One 
should  be  careful,  in  speaking,  that  the  reservoir  of  air 
in  the  chest  is  never  exhausted  ;  he  should  take  air 
in,  as  well  as  force  it  out  ;  and  a  clear,  full,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  delicate,  enunciation  comes  from  having  air 
enough,  and  using  all  the  air  inhaled,  "  speaking  with  the 
whole  of  ourselves,  and  not  merely  with  the  throat  and 
lips."  Upon  this  full  column  of  air  in  the  chest  the 
voice  should  ring  freely  in  the  head,  as  in  the  top  of  a 
dome,  not,  however,  confining  it  to  the  chest,  but  using 
the  chest-voice  only  as  a  basis  ;  for  it  is  a  false  rule  not 
to  employ  the  head  (vocally)  in  speaking.  It  is  the  con- 
cavity of  the  mouth  and  head  which  gives  the  resonant 
and  sonorous  quality  to  the  voice — a  quality  lamentably 


66o  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

wanting  in  some  of  our  American  speakers.  Cicero  says 
that  one  should  be  careful  to  take  a  respiration  long 
enough,  that  he  may  not  fail  to  have  sufficient  breath  to 
finish  what  he  has  to  say  ;  and  a  sentence  should  not  be 
so  long  that  it  cannot  be  easily  and  naturally  spoken. 
The  sound  given  by  the  instrument  should  not  exceed 
its  capacities.  One  should  not,  says  Coquerel,  enter 
into  a  contest  with  his  throat,  he  will  surely  be  worsted. 
Talma  used  to  say  of  his  actors,  "  They  know  how  to 
declaim,  but  they  do  not  know  how  to  respire." 

Still  another  suggestion  in  regard  to  the  voice  and  the 
enunciation  is,  that  one  should  strive  for  a  natural  tone. 
"  The  voice  is  first  to  be  formed.  It  is  to  be  strength- 
ened by  an  increased  capacity  of  the  lungs,  and  an  ac- 
quired, strong,  respiratory  action.  Its  thorough  discipline 
must  be  mastered,  frofn  the  lightest  whisper  to  the  loudest 
shouting  ;  not  with  a  view  to  actual  use,  but  for  securing 
a  command  over  every  degree  of  force  and  pliancy. 
Even  in  a  few  weeks  a  stentorian  power  can  be  imparted 
to  a  comparatively  weak  voice."  '  But,  notwithstanding 
all  that  may  be  done  to  discipline  and  train  the  voice,  it 
should  still  be  a  natural  voice  ;  for  an  artificial  voice,  let 
it  be  never  so  good,  is  less  effective  than  a  natural  one  ; 
it  unpleasantly  suggests  something  artificial  in  the  man 
or  in  his  thoughts.  Every  person  has  his  own  natural 
pitch  of  voice,  one  that  is  nicely  adapted  to  his  mind  and 
temperament.  Let  him  not  strive  to  change  this  divine 
arrangement,  and  take  up  another  man's  instrument.  Let 
him  speak  with  his  own  voice,  and  not  with  that  of  some 
other  preacher  or  speaker,  whom  he  has  selected  as  a 
model.  Above  all,  let  him  not  speak  like  an  old  man 
while  he  is  still  a  young  man  ;  we  wish  to  hear  the  fresh, 


'  Frobisher's  "  Voice  and  Action,"  p.  ig. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  66 1 

high,  varied  tones  of  youth  in  the  voice  of  a  young  man. 
Therefore,  as  we  have  before  suggested,  let  not  even 
head-tones  be  avoided — the  highest  radical  tones — if  one 
is  only  mindful  to  have  a  chest-tone  as  a  basis.  Let  the 
voice  play  freely  and  naturally  up  and  down,  like  a 
musical  instrument.  This  is  agreeable  to  hear,  and  it 
relieves  the  speaker.  It  is  well  to  speak  in  the  pitch  that 
one  would  use  in  common  conversation,  only  clearer  and 
fuller  ;  and  yet  some  speakers  assume  a  tone  which  is  en- 
tirely unnatural — a  declamatory  tone,  or  a  solemn  tone, 
or  a  "  holy  tone  ;"  as  if  preaching  was  anything  else  than 
talking  loud  enough  for  a  large  audience  to  hear  dis- 
tinctly. "  Placing  himself,  then,  in  the  position  of  an 
authorized  teacher,  and  theoretically  speaking  his  own 
words,  he  must  adopt  a  tone  and  manner  corresponding 
to  his  position.  His  tone  must  be  his  conversational 
tone,  and  his  manner  (reverential  as  to  the  Deity,  col- 
loquial as  to  the  congregation)  his  natural  manner,  varied, 
indeed,  according  to  the  subject,  but  still  so  really  his 
own  that  any  listening  friend  would  recognize  him  to  be 
the  speaker  by  his  tone  and  manner  alone."  '  We  may 
learn  something  from  Roman  Catholic  methods.  "A 
novice  among  the  Jesuits,  no  matter  what  he  may  have 
been  previously — canon,  vicar,  or  bishop — must  attend  a 
reading-class  three  or  four  times  a  week.  There  he  is 
made  to  read  like  a  child,  is  taught  to  articulate  and  to 
accentuate,  and  every  now  and  then  is  stopped,  when 
those  present  are  called  upon  to  point  out  the  merits  and 
defects  of  his  reading.  Nor  is  this  all.  Every  Monday 
during  his  noviciate,  often  extending  over  several  years. 
he  has  to  recite  t\\e  forvmla  of  the  tones,  as  it  is  called — a 
short  discourse,  comprising  all  the  tones  ordinarily  used 


'  Gould's  "  Good  English,"  p.  i8i. 


662  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

in  oratorical  composition  ;  such  as  the  tone  of  persua- 
sion, of  menace,  of  kindness,  of  anger,  of  mercy,  of 
prayer,  etc.  ;  the  preacher  being  obh'ged  to  remain  in  the 
pulpit  after  such  exercise  to  hear  such  criticisms  as  an 
invited  audience  may  choose  to  pass  upon  his  per- 
formance." ' 

Every  public  speaker  should,  as  the  least  he  can  do, 
endeavor  to  remedy  or  improve  the  imperfections  of  his 
own  voice.  If  he  has  a  feeble  voice,  let  him  strive  to 
give  it  more  fulness  ;  if  he  has  a  thick  and  guttural  voice, 
let  him  aim  at  greater  clearness  and  refinement  of  tone  ; 
if  he  has  a  rasping,  harsh  voice,  let  him  endeavor  to  soften 
and  sweeten  it,  to  take  off  its  wire-edge  ;  but  with  all 
this,  let  him  accept  the  voice  God  has  given  him,  and 
use  it,  and  not  another  man's  ;  and,  strange  as  it  may 
sound,  so  many  are  the  faults  which  one  is  apt  to  fall 
into  by  education,  that  it  requires  great  study  and  labor 
to  speak  naturally. 

As  a  last  suggestion,  one  should  strive  for  a  pure  tone  ; 
for  this,  more  than  anything  else,  indicates  the  cultivated 
speaker.  A  pure  tone  is  that  which  is  free  from  all  false 
tones.  A  false  tone,  as  distinguished  from  a  pure  tone, 
arises  from  some  imperfect  respiration,  or  false  carriage 
of  the  voice,  as,  for  instance,  a  pectoral  tone,  which 
comes  from  an  imperfect  use  of  the  lungs.  Those  who 
have  the  misfortune  to  be  consumptive,  or  those  who 
have  weak  lungs,  are  apt  to  have  the  pectoral  tone. 
Fuller  and  more  vigorous  respiration  is  needed  for  them. 
The  voice,  if  possible,  should  be  lifted  out  of,  or,  at  least, 
not  be  suffered  to  lie  buried  in,  the  sepulchre  of  the  chest, 
where  it  rumbles  in  hollow  tones.  A  preacher  should 
stand  erect,  so  that  all  the  organs  of  speech  can  have  free 


'  "  The  Clergy  and  the  Pulpit,"  by  M.  I'Abbe  MuUois,  C.  x.  p.  243. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  663 

play.  He  should  not  be  a  lecturer,  but  a  preacher  ;  and 
it  is  here  that  the  extempore  speaker  has  an  immense  ad- 
vantage. The  whole  apparatus  of  the  vocal  organs  is  to 
be  employed  in  producing  a  clear,  pure  tone  ;  and  a 
speaker  should  find  out  by  practice,  and  by  the  criticism 
of  friends,  where  his  defect  lies,  or  in  what  one  imper- 
fectly used  organ  ;  and  thus  he  may  effectually  cure  a 
natural  faultiness  of  voice,  and,  by  persistent  effort,  bring 
up  even  a  weak  voice  to  great  power  and  efificiency. 

We  would  add  that  clearness,  rather  than  extreme 
loudness,  is  best  suited  for  the  pulpit-voice — that  full, 
audible,  manly,  even,  flowing  enunciation  on  which  one 
can  easily  weave  all  characters  and  varieties  of  tone, 
from  the  most  delicate  to  the  most  vehement.  Quin- 
tilian  finely  remarks,  "  That  delivery  is  elegant  which  is 
supported  by  a  voice  that  is  easy,  powerful,  sweet,  well 
sustained,  clear,  pure,  that  cuts  the  air  and  penetrates  the 
ear  ;  for  there  is  a  kind  of  voice  naturally  qualified  to 
make  itself  heard,  not  by  its  strength,  but  by  a  peculiar 
excellence  of  tone — a  voice  which  is  obedient  to  the  will 
of  the  speaker,  susceptible  of  every  variety  of  sound  and 
inflection  that  can  be  required,  and  possessed  of  all  the 
notes  of  a  musical  instrument  ;  and  to  maintain  it  there 
should  be  strength  of  lungs,  and  breath  that  can  be 
steadily  prolonged,  and  is  not  likely  to  sink  under  labor. 
Neither  the  lowest  musical  tone,  nor  the  highest,  is 
I)roper  for  oratory  ;  for  the  lowest,  which  is  far  from 
being  clear,  and  is  too  full,  can  make  no  impression  on 
the  minds  of  an  audience  ;  and  the  highest,  which  is  very 
sharp,  rising  above  the  natural  pitch,  is  not  susceptible 
of  inflection  from  pronunciation,  nor  can  it  endure  to  be 
kept  long  on  the  stretch  ;  for  the  voice  is  like  the  string 
of  an  instrument  :  the  more  relaxed  it  is,  the  graver  and 
fuller  its  tone  ;  the  more   it  is  stretched,  the  more  thin 


664  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING, 

and  sharp  is  its  sound.  Thus  a  voice  in  the  lowest  key- 
wants  force  ;  in  the  highest,  is  in  danger  of  being 
cracked.  We  must  therefore  cultivate  the  middle  tones, 
which  may  be  raised  when  we  speak  with  vehemence, 
and  lowered  when  we  deliver  ourselves  with  gentleness. "  ' 
In  reading  the  Scriptures,  the  voice  should,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  move  upon  a  monotone,  but  without  becoming 
monotonous  ;   it  should   rise  and  fall  easily, 

ing      according   to   the   sense.      There   should   be 
the  ,.'",,  .          .      , 

Scriotures     somethmg  or   the  same   easy  variety  m  the 

tone  that  there  is  in  common  conversation. 
The  Bible  does  not  require  to  be  emphasized  and  aided 
by  so  great  a  variety  of  tones  as  other  books,  because 
it  is  not  only,  as  a  general  rule,  simple  and  plain,  but  it 
has  the  dignity  and  authority  of  a  divine  teaching.  Prac- 
tice is  required  in  the  proper  use  of  cadence,  and  there 
are  sublime  passages  of  the  New  Testament  which 
should  be  read  with  something  of  a  swell  in  the  voice  ; 
so  also  should  many  of  the  poetical  and  grand  passages 
of  the  Old  Testament.  The  prayer  and  the  reading  of 
the  hymns  require  the  preacher  to  vary  his  tone,  in 
order  to  mark  the  elevation  of  thought  and  feeling  ; 
though  this  may  be  easily  overdone,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  poet's  divine,  who 

"  gives  to  prayer 

The  adagio  and  andante  it  demands." 

The  words  "  Give  attention  to  reading"  might  be  ad- 
dressed in  their  most  literal  sense  to  the  preacher  ;  for 
reading  the  Scriptures  has  been  rightly  called  "  a  continu- 
ous commentary  of  the  text." 

There  is  no  instrument    more    capable  of    cultivation 
than  the  human  voice  ;  no   instrument  that  equals  it  in 


'  "  Instit.,"  B.  xi.  c.  iii.  sees.  40,  41,  42. 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF   RHETORIC.  665 

beauty,  richness,  scope,  and  power  ;  its  thunder  tones 
rouse  and  roll  through  the  inmost  depths  of  the  con- 
science ;  its  flute-Hke  notes  fill  the  mind  with  harmonious 
visions  of  happiness  and  peace  ;  its  pathos  touches  the 
springs  of  the  heart,  and  makes  wicked  men  feci  like 
children,  and  weep  like  children  over  their  wrong-doings. 
The  second  element  of  delivery.  Pronunciation,  is  sim- 
ply to  utter  articulately,  or  to  give,  with 
^  ^  ■'  ,1  Pronuncia- 

clear     precision,    to    every   vocal    element,         ^-^^^ 

whether  vowel  or  consonant,  its  proper  arti- 
culate sound.     This  distinguishes  an  educated  and  refined 
from  a  slovenly  and  uncultivated  pronunciation. 

"  When  a  word  is  properly  articulated  and  properly 
accented,  it  is  rightly  pronounced.  Articulation  (which 
is  the  formation  and  jointing  together  into  syllables 
of  the  elementary  sounds  of  speech)  is,  however,  the 
more  fundamental  and  controlling  element.  The  forma- 
tion of  the  elementary  sounds,  and  of  syllables,  is  obvi- 
ously the  most  essential  element  in  the  formation  of 
words.  Pronunciation  ought  not  to  be  conformed  to  the 
symbolization,  or  to  the  spelling  of  words,  as  such  at- 
tempts reverse  the  original  method  by  which  language 
was  reduced  to  writing.  Speech  is  always  in  a  process 
of  change.  The  life  of  a  language  always  follows  the 
sound,  not  the  symbol.  A  correct  and  elegant  pronun- 
ciation is  an  element  of  power  in  delivery  which  can 
hardly  be  overestimated."  ' 

Emphasis,  when  rightly  given,  is  also  a  great  beauty 
in  speaking.     It  does  not  consist  in  mere   loudness,  but 

rather   in   an  indescribable  variety  of  tones 

Emphasis, 
and  modulations.     It  is  thought,  for  exam- 
ple, by  some  preachers,  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 


'  Mcllvaine's  "  Elocution,"  p.  239. 


666  RHETORIC  ARPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

pronounce  terrible  words  in  a  terrible  manner,  in  loud  and 
startling  tones  of  voice  ;  but  it  is  generally  more  emphatic 
and  solemnly  impressive  when  the  feeling  of  awe  which 
such  words  should  inspire  leads  us  to  sink  the  voice, 
though  without  softening  or  weakening  it. 

"  Emphasis  (from  sixqjaivoo  to  show,  to  express  in  a 
vivid,  forcible  manner)  depends  upon  force  and  quality  of 
voice,  time,  pitch,  and  inflection.  It  is  relative,  that  is 
to  say,  the  degree  of  prominence  which  is  given  to  words 
or  phrases  is  to  be  determined  by  the  connection  in 
which  they  stand,  and  by  the  occasion  or  circumstances 
of  the  delivery.  Emphasis  is  a  substantive  element  of 
language  itself,  since  by  varying  it  the  meaning  of  any 
combination  of  words  may  be  wholly  changed.  Great 
care  should  be  taken  to  guard  against  too  frequent  em- 
phasis, and  loading  the  delivery  with  emphasis." 

Good  emphasis  is  a  great  beauty  in  delivery  ;  it  atones 
for  many  faults. 

"  Correct  accent  is  indispensable  to  spirited,  tasteful, 
and  intelligent  reading  and  speaking  ;  every  accented 
word  becomes  the  seat  of  life  in  utterance.  A  feeble  and 
inexpressive  utterance  kills  the  thoughts  of  the  speaker. "  ' 

The  severest  argument  may  be  lighted  up  by  a  dis- 
criminating emphasis,  just  as  a  painter,  when  he  has 
almost  finished  his  picture,  puts  in,  here  and  there,  what 
he  calls  the  "  lights  ;"  and  so  nature,  if  one  observes  a 
landscape,  always  distributes  her  lights—  not  in  masses, 
but  in  points. 

VVhately  decries  the  artificial  study  of  emphasis.  He 
says,  "  Fill  your  mind  with  the  matter  ;  be  inspired  by  it  ; 
be  sincerely  desirous  of  imparting  it  to  your  hearers  ; 
and  then  your  emphasis  will  take  care  of  itself."     That 


'  Vandenhoff' s  "  Clerical  Assistant." 


GENERAL   PRIXCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  60 7 

is  good  advice  as  far  as  it  goes.  But  how  many  good  and 
zealous  ministers  are  very  ineffective  preachers  !  It 
would  seem  to  be  better  to  fill  one's  mind  with  his  ser- 
mon, and  with  the  desire  to  impart  the  truth  it  contains, 
and  then  study  it  to  know  how  this  may  best  be  done. 
There  should  be  a  study  of  emphasis  if  for  no  other  rea- 
son than  to  avoid  having  too  much  emphasis,  as  is  the 
case  with  some  preachers,  which  makes  a  ranting  style, 
that  wearies  both  hearer  and  speaker  ;  for  violence  in 
elocution  is  not  force. 

Action  is  natural  to  man  in  speaking.  The  child  ges- 
tures when  he  talks,  and  it  is  well  to  observe  the  gestures 
of    children,  and     to    note    their   freedom, 

1         rr  •  r  ,i       •  ,  ,  ActiOD. 

grace,  and  effectiveness  ;  for  well-timed  and 
natural  gesture  adds  greatly  to  the  power  of  speech. 
There  is,  however,  a  difference  of  opinion  in  regard  to 
the  propriety  of  much  or  little  action,  and  of  little  or  no 
action,  in  the  pulpit.  Audiences  themselves  differ  here. 
Some  speakers  who  enchain  their  audiences  while  stand- 
ing stiff  as  poles — enchain  them  by  their  thoughts — 
would  be  considered  dull  preachers  by  other  audiences, 
who  like  to  see  the  dust  fly  from  the  cushion.  There  is 
an  oaken  desk  shown  at  Eisenach,  in  Germany,  which 
Luther  broke  with  his  fist  in  preaching. 

Notwithstanding  this  difference  of  opinion,  and  not- 
withstanding Dr.  Johnson's  dictum  that  "  action  can 
have  no  effect  on  reasonable  minds,  sir,"  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  some  gesture,  some  timely  and  animated 
action,  is  good  for  the  preacher.  "  Whitefield's  vehemence 
was  excessive.  A  poor  man  said  he  preached  like  a  lion. 
Sometimes  he  stamped,  sometimes  he  wept,  sometimes 
he  stopped  exhausted  by  emotion,  and  appeared  as  if  he 
were  about  to  expire.  He  usually  vomited  after  the  ex- 
ertion of  the  day,  and  often  brought  up  blood.     Yet  this 


668  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

was  the  man  whom  the  cold  and  sceptical  Franklin 
would  travel  twenty  miles  to  hear."  '  European  and 
Oriental  nations  gesture  constantly,  both  in  conversation 
and  public  speaking  ;  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  Demos- 
thenes and  the  great  orators  of  antiquity  used  much,  and 
at  times  vehement,  gesture. 

The  simple  rule  in  gesture  would  seem  to  be,  that 
while  it  should  be  free  and  natural,  like  a  child's,  it 
should  not  be  carried  to  an  excess  ;  that  is  worse  than 
no  action  at  all  ;  none  at  all  is  at  least  safe,  if  not  elo- 
quent. There  should  be,  in  fact,  a  certain  thoughtful 
restraint  in  gesture,  and  just  enough  of  art  to  avoid  awk- 
ward, improper,  and  misplaced  action. 

"  Emotion  rather  than  thought  is  the  immediate  cause 
of  gesture  ;  and  gesture  corresponds  to  the  nature  of  the 
emotion,  rather  than  of  the  thought.  Too  much  ges- 
ture, though  significant  and  appropriate,  enfeebles  its 
power  of  expression  ;  otherwise,  too  much  is  better  than 
too  little.  The  countenance  should  correspond  to  the 
sentiments  embodied  in  the  words,  though  the  speaker 
should  be  put  on  his  guard  against  indiscriminate  smiling 
and  frowning.  The  eye  is  the  chief  feature  in  expression, 
.and  thus  the  audience  should  see  the  speaker's  eye. 
'  In  ore  sunt  onniia. '  The  expression  of  the  hands  is 
only  inferior  to  that  of  the  countenance.  The  hand  must 
show  that  the  speaker  is  all  alive,  even  to  his  finger- 
nails."  "^ 

The  action  of  the  hand  was  regarded  by  the  ancients 
as  so  significant  that  the  whole  art  of  delivery  was  named 
by  the  Greeks  Chirojiomia,  meaning  the  law  of  physical 
expression  beyond  thought  itself — "  the  power  of  utter- 


'  "  British  Quarterly,"  April,  1857. 
'  Mcllvaine's  "  Elocution,"  p.  393. 


GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  669 

ance  through  all  the  organs  of  language  in  the  body,  the 
power  of  speaking  what  we  think  not  only  by  vocal 
sounds,  but  also  by  expressive  motions  of  grace  and 
strength."  The  numberless  false  motions  of  the  hand  in 
speaking,  from  sawing  the  air  like  the  sails  of  a  windmill 
to  punching  it  like  poking  a  grate,  could  not  readily  be 
described,  while  a  little  thoughtful  training  would  reduce 
these  wild  and  meaningless  gesticulations  to  a  noble  and 
expressive  action,  giving  indescribable  effect  to  speech. 

Some  men  incline  by  temperament  to  a  great  deal  of 
action  in  speaking  ;  let  them  not  wholly  restrain  it,  for 
then  they  would  be  unnatural  ;  but  let  them  be  careful 
that  the  action  be  fit,  and  subordinate  to  the  thought. 
Other  men  incline  to  little  or  no  gesture  :  let  them  be 
careful  not  to  become  excessive  in  their  stiff  monotony. 
It  is  best,  perhaps,  for  a  young  preacher  to  gesture  as  lit- 
tle as  possible,  until  he  gets  used  to  preaching,  and  feels 
free  to  be  himself  in  the  pulpit.  Audiences  are  involun- 
tarily on  the  watch  to  discover  the  evidences  of  art  in  the 
sermon,  and  in  the  style  of  delivery,  of  a  young  preacher. 
When  they  see  the  rhetorical  education  in  him,  he  ceases 
to  impress  them  with  what  he  is  saying.  Audiences 
ought  to  be  disappointed  here.  There  should  be  no 
mannerism  of  action  to  divert  attention  from  the  plain 
message  of  God  which  the  young  preacher  is  delivering. 

All  gestures  should  be  free  and  flowing,  not  cramped 
and  confined.  There  should  be  nothing  small,  fastidious, 
and  mincing  in  gesture,  since  the  idea  of  man's  greatness 
should  be  before  us  in  the  orator.  Cicero  commends,  in 
oratory,  "  a  bold  and  manly  action  of  body,  not  learned 
from  the  theatre  and  the  player,  but  from  the  camp,  or 
even  from  the  palaestra."  '     There    is,   indeed,  much  in 


'  "  De  Oratore,"  B.  iii.  s.  59. 


670  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

the  ancient  idea  of  the  "  free  elbow."  Page,  the  artist, 
sagaciously  remarks,  that  the  superiority  of  ancient  sculp- 
ture over  modern  consists  chiefly  in  its  bold  angles  ;  and 
he  gives  as  an  illustration  the  attitude  of  one  of  the  sons 
of  Niobe,  stretching  his  widely-extended  arms  to  heaven. 
Pulpits  should  be  made  to  admit  of  this  large  and  free 
action.  They  should  be  so  made  that  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  preacher's  form  can  be  seen  ;  for  true  gesture  is 
the  speaking  of  the  whole  man,  of  all  his  limbs,  and  even 
of  his  feet  ;  and  perhaps  the  good  time  will  come  when 
the  pulpit,  with  a  desk  for  notes,  will  be  abolished  alto- 
gether, and  the  preacher  will  stand  up  in  his  simple  man- 
hood, with  nothing  adventitious  about  him,  and  speak 
the  word  with  naturalness,  spontaneity,  and  freedom  fresh 
from  the  heart.  How  great  are  the  advantages  of  a  good 
delivery!  "  I  do  not  fearto  afBrm,"  says  Quintilian,  "  that 
a  mediocre  discourse,  sustained  by  the  prestige  of  a  good 
delivery,  shall  have  more  weight  than  the  most  beautiful 
discourse  without  such  aid,  ''  Equidem  vel  mediocrem 
orationein  commendatani  viribiis  actioncs,  affinnaverini 
phis  liabituram  esse  inenic7iti,  qiiam  optimani  cadem  ilia 
destitiitain. ' '  ' 

Minima  aiixilia  nc  spcj'naimis.  Nothing  is  too  small, 
nothing  too  trifling,  which  helps  us  to  become  better 
preachers.  In  the  delivery  of  a  discourse  on  so  solemn  a 
theme  as  that  of  divine  truth,  we  should  at  least  strive  to 
avoid  anything  which  will  mar  the  effect  of  the  sacred 
message — any  inexcusable  carelessness  of  speaking,  awk- 
wardness of  manner,  harshness  of  voice,  flippancy  of 
tone,  or  wearisomeness  of  monotony.  The  delivery 
should  be  natural,  affectionate,  and  free.  Nothing  can 
make  up  for  want  of  life,  of  animation.     The  manuscript 


'  "  Instit.,"  B.  xi.  c.  iii.  s.  2. 


GENERAL   PRINCIPLES  OF  RHETORIC.  671 

is  a  curse  if  it  deadens  and  dulls  delivery.  "  There 
should  be  the  vividiis  vultus,  vividi  ocidi,  vivida  Diamis, 
dcnique  ovinia  vivida  that  are  portrayed  as  characteristic 
of  Luther's  preaching."  The  delivery  should  have  not 
only  manly  dignity  and  simplicity,  but  cheerful  variety, 
and,  above  all,  noble  action,  which  may  be  the  medium 
of  the  divine  energy.  To  quote  from  an  admirable  essay 
of  Dr.  Skinner  (Am.  Pres.  and  Theol.  Rev.,  January, 
1865),  "Action,  which  is  more  than  knowledge,  needs 
aids  for  itself.  In  elocutionary  action,  as  well  as  in 
thinking  and  writing,  the  preacher,  however  qualified  by 
self-culture,  can  attain  to  no  degree  of  spirituality  by 
merely  natural  effort.  If  the  activity  of  a  preacher  in 
speaking — the  eloquence  of  the  body — be  indeed  spiritual, 
it  is  doubtless  a  higher  exercise  of  the  spiritual  life  than 
either  of  its  other  exercises  in  the  business  of  preaching. 
It  must  needs  be  so,  if  it  be  answerable  in  all  respects  to 
the  unique  and  mysterious  exigencies  of  such  a  work  as 
delivering  appropriately  the  inspired  word  of  God,  as  a 
vehicle  and  representative  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Apart 
from  a  very  special  operation  of  the  Spirit  himself,  who 
is  sufificient  for  the  just  performance  of  this  work  ?  Spir- 
itual things,  expressing  themselves  fitly  in  spiritual 
modulations  of  the  voice,  spiritual  looks,  spiritual  atti- 
tudes, the  supernatural  exerting  itself  in  and  through 
these  bodily  signs  of  thought  and  feeling — think  of  one's 
having  in  himself  a  sufificiency  for  this  !  The  apostles, 
with  all  their  gifts  for  other  uses,  had  it  not  ;  nay,  even 
our  Lord's  spirituality  of  mind  and  knowledge,  added  to 
the  perfectly  natural  use  of  the  human  powers,  did  not 
qualify  him  adequately  for  the  business  of  dispensing  the 
word,  independently  of  the  continued  co-agency  of  the 
Spirit  in  this  specific  business  ;  even  he  delivered  his  dis- 


672  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

courses  under   the    anointing   and    in    the  power  of   the 
Spirit  of  God"  (Luke  4:18;  21  :  14). 

As  a  result  of  this  reasoning,  the  conclusion  is  drawn 
that  "  in  all  preliminary  work  in  reference  to  actual  de- 
livery, the  preacher  must  abide  in  communion  with  the 
Holy  Spirit." 


SECOND   DIVISION. 

INVENTION. 

Sec.   29.  Definition  and  Sources  of  Invention. 

Rhetoric,  strictly  considered,  is  divided  into  two  prin- 
cipal parts.  Invention  and  Style,  or  the  matter  and  man- 
ner of  a  discourse  ;  and  we  shall  now  proceed  to  treat  of 
these  topics,  which  form  the  concluding  and  more  specific 
portion  of  the  discussion  of  rhetoric  applied  to  preaching. 

Invention  may  be  defined   to  be  the  art  of  supplying 

and  of  methodizing  the   subject-matter  of  a  discourse. 

Its  primary   idea  is,    to    discover,    bring 

Definition  of 
together,  or  supply  the  requisite  material  of     invention. 

thought,  from  whatever    source  ;  its  subor- 
dinate idea,  and  one  legitimately   connected  with   it    as 
far  as  the   proper  uses   of   rhetoric    are  concerned,  is  the 
right  methodizing  or  arrangement  of  this  material. 

We  will  consider,  briefly,  the  sources  of  invention,  and 
the  qualities  of  the  true  subject. 

I.  The  sources  of  invention. 

{a.^  Original   power  of  thought.     This  belongs  to  the 

mind,  as   mind  ;    but    it    may  be    indefinitely    increased 

through    discipline    and    culture,    since    the 

Sources  of 

more   this    oriirinal    faculty    of    thousfht    is     .•„„^„«.;^„ 
^  J  o  invention. 

trained,  the  stronger  and  richer  it  grows  in 

invention,  the  greater  its  command  of  the  sources  and 

materials  of  thought.      There  are,   it    is    true,   vast  dif- 


674  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

ferences  in  native  mental  power  and  fertility,  in  the 
primitive  depth  of  the  mental  soil  ;  but  where  there  is 
native  power  of  thought  a  thorough  and  philosophical 
education  serves  to  develop  it,  that  it  may  bear  more 
fruit  of  invention.  Vinet  says  ("  Homiletics,"  p.  53), 
"  But  the  most  certain  means  of  invention,  as  to  the 
subject  of  discourse,  is  a  truly  philosophical  culture."' 
In  sermon-writing  the  well-disciplined  mind,  the  mind 
trained  to  think,  has  a  confident  vigor  in  discovering 
and  handling  a  subject  which  the  untrained  mind  cannot 
have.  A  thoughtful  mind,  well  disciplined,  will  be  con- 
tinually quarrying  out  for  itself  new  subject-matter,  since 
thought  itself  is,  after  all,  the  main  principle  and  source 
of  good  writing. 

ib.)  Acquired  knowledge.  Out  of  nothing,  nothing 
can  be  invented.  There  must  first  be  the  material  for 
thought  to  work  upon,  and  from  which  to  draw  forth 
the  subject-matter  of  discourse  before  the  writer  or 
orator  has  any  function.  That  material  is  truth  as  it 
lies  in  its  elemental  conditions  in  nature  and  the  moral 
universe,  rewarding  the  sincere  seeker  but  eluding  the 
final  analysis.  No  one  but  God  can  create  simple  or 
original  truth  ;  yet  man  may  lay  hold  of  truth  and  use 
the  truth,  while  he  cannot  circumscribe  or  exhaust  it. 
The  broader  the  dominion  of  truth  which  the  orator 
thus  commands,  the  more  of  it  he  has  actually  made 
his  own,  the  richer  his  sources  of  invention,  and  the 
wider  his  power  and  influence. 

We  do  not  like  to  see  barrenness  in  any  writer,  but  in 
writing  a  sermon  especially  one  should  draw  upon  a  full 
mind  ;  he  should  be  able  to  look  down  upon  a  subject  in 
all  its  parts  and  relations,  and  should  feel  that  his  great 


See  also  Ouintilian's  "  Instit.,"  B.  i.  c.  xix. 


INVENTION.  67S 

embarrassment  consists  in  coming  at  the  specific  theme 
of  discourse,  in  defining,  selecting,  and  arranging  his 
material,  rather  than  in  being  obliged  to  gather  together 
matter  enoufrh  to  eke  out  a  discourse.  It  is  better  not 
to  attempt  to  write  upon  a  subject  than  to  write  with  a 
small  and  imperfect  knowledge  of  it,  which  sometimes 
one  may  be  forced  to  do,  although  this  is  not  the  way  to 
nourish  a  rich  invention.  And  this  acquired  knowledge, 
that  is  to  be  employed  in  invention,  is  not  the  gathering 
together  of  a  crude,  undigested  mass  of  knowledge  ;  but 
it  requires  an  act  of  the  mind  to  possess  itself  of  this 
knowledge,  to  assimilate  truth  to  the  nourishment  of  the 
thinking  power,  to  make  it  fit  for  use.  This  requires 
reflection-  -that  profound  meditation  upon  divine  truth, 
without  which  there  can  be  no  rich,  original  preaching. 
It  is  not  merely  the  preaching  of  truth,  but  our  own  per- 
sonal perception  or  apprehension  of  truth,  the  ripe  fruit- 
age of  our  own  patient  thinking  upon  truth,  that  is 
needed. 

The  great  source  of  the  preacher's  acquired  knowledge 
is  the  word  of  God  ;  and  he  who  studies  this  word  daily, 
who  digs  in  this  field,  who  is  constantly  pursuing  original 
investigations  in  this  still  fresh  and  fruitful  soil,  will 
never  be  at  a  loss  for  subjects  of  sermons.  The  word 
of  God  is,  and  will  always  be,  the  main  subject-matter 
of  preaching.  It  should  be  preached  in  its  unity — that 
is,  as  one  product  of  one  divine  author  through  many 
minds  ;  in  its  variety,  not  merely  for  example  in  its  doc- 
trinal, but  also  its  ethical  aspects,  and  not  merely  as 
the  law,  but  also,  and  above  all,  as  the  gospel  ;  in  its 
integrity,  without  intentionally  slurring  over  any  por- 
tion ;  and    in    its  right    order  or   proportion    of    parts.* 


See  "  Moore  on  Preaching." 


676  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

The  preacher's  invention  is  shown  in  bringing  into  use, 
and  in  arranging  judiciously,  his  rich  scriptural  materials. 
It  is  well  that  there  is  beginning  to  be  a  call  for  biblical 
preaching  ;  this  will  immensely  increase  the  variety  of 
the  material  of  preaching  and  the  supply  of  the  inventive 
faculty.  The  last  review,  the  last  new  work  on  theology, 
the  last  published  volume  of  essays  or  sermons,  while 
suggestive,  cannot  afford  preachers  their  source  of  sup- 
ply ;  for  all  such  materials  are  adventitious  ;  they  are  not 
the  spring,  but  only  a  reservoir  whose  waters  soon  dry 
up.  The  older  Puritan  preachers  dwelt  continually  in  the 
word  and  spirit  of  God,  and  thus  they  were  fresh  and 
original,  sometimes  startlingly  bold,  but  profound  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  even  if  labored  and  incorrect  in  form. 
They  preached,  it  is  true,  scholastically  ;  but  in  substance 
and  spirit  they  drew  their  main  material  from  the  Scrip- 
tures. There  is  an  evangelic  life  in  what  they  say, 
which  must  have  seemed,  at  the  time,  like  a  direct  pro- 
phecy, or  a  speaking  of  God's  spirit  through  their  minds 
to  men. 

(<:.)  The  process  of  reasoning.  As  meditation  upon 
truth  arouses  the  inventive  faculty,  the  more  logical 
power  of  definition,  analysis,  and  comparison,  gradually 
leads  invention  to  settle  down  upon  some  definite  result 
of  thought,  some  distinct  and  comprehensive  subject; 
it  conducts  to  the  apprehension  of  those  elements  or 
principles  of  truth  which  lie  behind  all  knowledge. 
What  do  we  mean  by  depth  as  opposed  to  superficiality 
of  mind,  or  of  invention  ?  Let  us  answer  in  the  words 
of  another,  "  Depth  consists  in  tracing  any  number  of 
particular  effects  to  a  general  principle,  or  in  distin- 
guishing an  unknown  cause  from  the  individual  and 
varying  circumstances  with  which  it  is  implicated,  and 
under  which  it  lurks  unsuspected.      It  is  in  fact  resolving 


INVENTION.  677 

the  concrete  into  the  abstract.  Now  this  is  a  task  of  diffi- 
culty, not  only  because  the  abstract  naturally  merges  in 
the  concrete,  and  we  do  not  well  know  how  to  set  about 
separating  what  is  cemented  together  in  a  single  object, 
and  presented  under  a  common  aspect  ;  but  being  scat- 
tered over  a  larger  surface,  and  collected  from  a  number 
of  undefined  sources,  there  must  be  a  strong  feeling  of 
its  weight  and  pressure  in  order  to  detach  it  from  the  ob- 
ject and  bind  it  into  a  principle."'  Many  preachers' 
minds  are  sufficiently  fertile  in  subjects  for  sermons,  but, 
lacking  this  habit  of  philosophic  thinking,  the  cultivated 
analytic  power,  they  fail  to  look  the  subject  through,  or  to 
come  at  the  real  subject  at  all.  They  are  thus  led  also 
to  superficiality  in  the  treatment  of  subjects,  and  are  rich 
only  in  the  mere  discovery  of  novel  themes. 

Sec.   30.    Qualities  of  the   True  Subject. 

I.   It  should  possess  unity  of  subject  and  object.     We 

have  spoken  already  of  unity  of  form  in  an  aesthetic  point 

of  view  ;  but  the  very  matter  and  essence  of 

a  discourse  should  be  one.     This  forms  its  "*  ^ 

of  subject 
life  ;  and  a  discourse  can  have,  like  a  man,    ^^^  object. 

but  one  life,  not  two  or  more.  We  naturally 
say,  "  the  subject  of  this  discourse  is  so  and  so."  If  we 
should  say,  "The  subjects  of  this  discourse  are  so  and 
so,"  would  our  hearers  expect  to  be  persuaded  or  im- 
pelled to  any  particular  duty?  A  sermon,  above  all, 
should  have  but  one  foundation  theme,  though  capable, 
it  may  be,  of  many  different  aspects  and  divisions  ;  for 
a  sermon  is  not  a  mere  work  of  art  ;  it  is  infinitely  more  : 
it  is  a  practical  work  directed  to  a  moral  end,  calculated 
to  act  impressively  upon  the  will  and  affections  of  the 


Hazlitt's  "  Plain  Speaker." 


678  RHETORIC   APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

hearer  ;  it  should  have,  therefore,  but  one  subject,  and 
should  aim  at  one  impression,  or  it  loses  its  moral  power. 
The  sermon  m:iy  sometimes  treat  of  complex  truths  ; 
but  these  should  be  comprehended  in  some  broader  truth, 
and  all  the  thoughts  should  be  bound  together  into  one 
synthetic  whole.  The  discourse  delivered  by  the  preach- 
er has  something  to  accomplish  ;  it  is  directed  to  a  cer- 
tain end  ;  it  is  to  carry  a  certain  point  ;  it  has  an  earnest 
mission  ;  it  does  not  talk  about  truth,  but  it  preaches  the 
truth  which  is  fitted  to  convert  men's  souls  ;  therefore 
there  should  be  not  only  unity  of  subject — unity  in  the 
very  substance  of  the  thought — but  unity  of  object,  unity 
of  aim.  There  may  be  a  wide  subject,  but  there  should 
be  a  narrower  object  toward  which  it  is  directed  and  is 
made  to  converge.  According  to  Vinet,  in  order  to  have 
unity  in  a  sermon,  it  must  be  reducible  to  a  doctrinal 
proposition,  which  is  readily  transformed  into  a  practical 
proposition  ;  and  every  sermon,  even  an  expository  one, 
should  partake  more  or  less  of  this  unity  of  subject  and 
object,  this  oneness  of  substance  and  aim.  It  is  true 
that  the  sermons  of  Augustine,  and  of  the  early  fathers 
of  the  Church,  seem  to  go  upon  the  principle  of  impart- 
ing as  much  truth  as  possible  at  the  time,  without  any 
marked  attempt  at  unity,  and  this  was  better  suited  to 
an  earlier  and  less  exactly  thoughtful  age  ;  but,  as  a  gen- 
eral principle,  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances, 
the  laws  of  the  mind  teach  us  that  we  cannot,  in  speaking 
for  the  purpose  of  persuasion,  attain  to  any  object,  or 
accomplish  any  definite  end,  unless  we  keep  that  object 
in  view  and  steadily  pursue  it.  We  should  not  only, 
therefore,  have  a  theme,  but  we  should  clearly  apprehend 
it  in  all  its  bearings,  so  that  while  following  it  out,  while 
discussing  subordinate  and  related  subjects,  while  pur- 
suing definite  and   individual  methods  of  treatment,  we 


INVENTION.  679 

should  not  forget  either  the  one  main  subject  or  the  one 

main  object  of  our  discourse  ;  and  these  two,  in  a  certain 

sense,  should  be  one. 

2.   It  should  have  originality.     The  term  "  invention" 

presupposes  this  :  for  to  invent,  one  must,  in  some  true 

sense,  originate.       Whatever   one  produces 
111,1  1  r  1  •  Originality, 

should   be  the  genume  product  of  his  own 

thinking — not  that  he  may  not  receive  help  from  other 
sources,  but  his  intellectual  products  should  be  the  honest 
fruit  of  his  own  brain.  This  is  the  happiness  and  reward 
of  literary  labor,  and  it  loses  its  stimulus  and  pleasura- 
ble excitement  where  there  is  not  this  consciousness  of 
independent,  and,  in  a  true  sense,  original  invention  ; 
and  if  this  is  true  of  any  species  of  literary  composition 
or  public  discourse,  it  is  true  of  the  sermon.  Let  us  ask 
in  ivJiat  way  true  originality  is  violated.  We  would  say 
negatively — not  in  using  old  truths  ;  for  no  one  can  make 
a  new  truth.  Even  the  discovery  of  a  new  truth  seems 
to  be  reserved  for  the  few  minds  on  which  epochs  turn, 
though,  indeed,  there  is  no  monopoly  here.  The  truths 
of  the  Bible,  above  all  other  truths,  are  common  prop- 
erty to  all  preachers  and  men.  Goethe  says  that  origi- 
nality does  not  consist  in  saying  new  things,  but  in 
treating  old  things  in  a  new  way.  Again,  not  in  using 
old  arguments  or  proofs.  The  old  arguments  are  gen- 
erally the  best  ;  they  are  the  results  of  the  best  thinking 
of  the  best  minds  ;  they  have  become  the  property  of 
all.  The  interests  of  truth  itself  demand  that  it  should 
not  lose  the  support  of  the  best  arguments,  the  old  and 
well-tried  proofs,  and  lean  upon  weaker  proofs  merely  be- 
cause they  are  new.  Yet  again,  not  in  taking  subjects 
that  have  been  preached  upon  by  others.  One  should  not 
be  fastidious  in  this.  The  most  important  subjects  will  be 
those  most  preached  upon.     And  there  are  certain  sub- 


68o  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

jects,  which  not  to  preach  upon  would  be  a  clear  failure 
of  duty  ;  and,  obviously,  no  one  has  an  exclusive  right 
of  property  in  the  truths  and  subjects  of  the  Bible. 
There  are  some  peculiarly  original  forms  in  which  even 
homiletical  subjects  have  been  stated,  which  it  would  be 
absurd  and  wrong  for  a  preacher  to  repeat,  inasmuch  as 
they  are  not  his  own.  Thus  Dr.  Bushnell's  sermon 
upon  "  Every  man's  life  a  plan  of  God,"  upon  the  text  in 
Isaiah  45  :  5,  "I  have  girded  thee,  though  thou  hast  not 
known  me,"  is  stamped,  in  the  very  subject  of  it,  with 
an  original  ownership.  It  is  perilous  to  originality  to 
read  a  vigorous  sermon  like  this  beforehand,  if  we  intend 
to  preach  upon  the  same  text.  We  should  at  least  wait 
until  we  escape  as  it  were  from  the  mastering  force  of 
such  a  sermon,  and  until  our  own  minds  can  work  freely 
and  independently  upon  the  theme. 

True  originality  of  invention  may  be  violated,  posi- 
tively, by  employing  the  thoughts,  words,  and  method 
of  another,  without,  in  some  way,  giving  due  credit 
for  it.  The  violation  consists  not  in  using  another's 
thoughts,  or  those  which  bear  the  unmistakable  stamp 
of  ownership,  but  in  not  candidly  acknowledging  their 
source.  One  must  use  the  result  of  others'  thinking  to 
a  certain  extent,  for  he  cannot  think  all  things  de  origine, 
and  he  is  the  heir  of  ages  of  thought  ;  he  may  some- 
times even  unconsciously  employ  ideas  and  trains  of 
thought  which  belong  peculiarly  to  another  mind,  whose 
source  he  has  forgotten,  and  which  he  uses  unwittingly 
as  his  own  ;  there  may  be  striking  coincidences  in  his 
own  thinking  and  that  of  another  man's  ;  and  does 
it  not  sometimes  happen  to  every  thinking  man  that 
when  he  has  earnestly  thought  out  an  idea,  or  an  illus- 
tration, or  an  argument,  when  he  is  morally  certain 
that  it  is  his  own,  that  in  the  next  book  he  reads   per- 


IxYVENTION.  68l 

haps,  with  an  astonishment  that  brings  the  blood  to 
his  face,  he  sees  the  same  thought,  or  almost  the  same 
collocation  of  words  and  phrases  which  he  had  wrought 
out  by  his  independent  thinking.  In  an  age  like  this, 
so  full  of  intellectual  activity,  when  the  culture  of  the 
world  is  becoming  broadly  equalized,  and  when  even 
great  scientific  truths,  like  the  telegraph,  or  the  existence 
of  a  planet  of  the  first  magnitude,  are  simultaneous  dis- 
coveries in  different  parts  of  the  globe,  this  fact  is  not  so 
wonderful  after  all,  and  no  one  is  to  blame,  and  each 
honest  worker  in  the  field  of  thought  is  to  be  encouraged 
and  confirmed  by  it  in  the  truth  ;  but,  consciously  to  set 
forth  as  one's  own  the  thoughts,  words,  and  inventions 
of  another,  which  have  not  confessedly  become  common 
property,  and  which  belong  of  right  to  one  man,  and  to 
give  that  impression  to  others — this  is  a  clear  violation  of 
original  invention,  and  of  the  first  principles  of  honesty. 
There  is  a  curious  instance  of  seeming  plagiarism,  though 
probably  it  was  only  an  unconscious  coincidence,  or,  it 
may  be,  recollection,  in  a  passage  that  occurs  in  one  of 
Jeremy  Taylor's  sermons  on  "  Death,"  with  a  passage  in 
a  previously  published  poem  of  Francis  Beaumont.  The 
passage  referred  to  begins  with  these  words  :  "  Where 
our  kings  are  crowned  their  ancestors  lie  buried,  and 
they  must  walk  over  their  grandsires'  heads  to  take  their 
crown." 

In  whai,  then,  may  originality  of  invention  be  said  to 
consist  ?  It  consists,  in  the  first  place,  in  enunciating 
truth  which  is  the  subject  of  our  own  mental  perception 
and  conviction.  It  is  not  preaching  truth  because  it  is 
held  and  believed  by  others.  Old  truth  must  be  made 
new,  or  must  receive  a  renewed  form,  by  passing  through 
the  heat  and  pressure  of  our  own  minds.  It  must  be 
assimilated   into  the  very  body  and  essence  of  our  own 


682  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

thought.  It  must  be  ours,  just  as  much  ours  as  it  was 
the  apostle  Paul's  or  Pascal's.  We  must  ourselves  preach 
that  we  do  know,  and  testify  that  we  have  seen  and  be- 
lieved. If  we  speak  of  thoughts,  or  ideas,  in  contra- 
distinction from  truths,  we  see  at  once  that  there  are 
many  ideas  that  have  sprung  up  in  original  minds,  that 
are  peculiar  to  these  minds,  and  that  bear  the  linea- 
ments of  their  origin.  These  cannot  be  run  through 
our  own  minds,  and  come  out  with  a  new  stamp 
of  our  own  upon  them  ;  they  must  be  left  as  they  are  ; 
and  if  used  by  us,  their  authorship  should  be  acknowl- 
edged. Individual  thoughts  and  ideas  about  a  truth,  and 
new  aspects  of  it  discovered  by  different  minds,  are 
different  from  the  truth  itself,  which  belongs  to  all  minds. 

Even  here,  in  regard  to  the  original  proprietorship  of 
thoughts  and  ideas,  there  is  still  some  doubt  and  latitude 
to  be  left.  "  Nearly  all  the  thoughts  which  can  be 
reached  by  mere  strength  of  original  faculties,  have  long 
since  been  arrived  at  ;  and  originality,  in  any  high  sense 
of  the  word,  is  now  scarcely  ever  attained  but  by  minds 
which  have  undergone  elaborate  discipline,  and  are 
deeply  versed  in  the  results  of  previous  thinking.  It 
is  Mr.  Maurice,  I  think,  who  has  remarked  on  the  pres- 
ent age,  that  its  most  original  thinkers  are  those  who 
have  known  most  thoroughly  what  has  been  thought  by 
their  predecessors  ;  and  this  will  always  henceforth  be 
the  case.'*  ' 

Again,  it  consists  in  treating  a  subject  independently, 
or  in  using  arguments,  proofs,  and  methods  which  are 
the  result  of  our  own  thinking  and  investigation.  We 
may  sometimes  take  old  arguments,  but  we  do  not  take 
an  argument  because  it  is  old,  or  because  another  has 

'  John  Stuart  Mill. 


INVENTIOX.  6  S3 

used  it  ;  but  because  \vc  think  it  is  sound,  and  because 
we  have  come  upon  it  in  our  own  thinking,  and  know  its 
value.  We  occupy  no  other  man's  precise  point  of  view. 
We  use  an  argument  because  our  own  judgment  approves 
of  it  ;  because,  even  if  we  have  not  invented  it,  we  have 
at  least  felt  its  power  and  our  need  of  it.  This  principle 
applies  particularly  to  the  plans  of  sermons.  The  plan 
of  a  sermon  is  so  connected  with  our  whole  process  of 
thought  upon  a  subject,  it  is  in  fact  so  truly  the  repro- 
duction of  that  process  of  thought,  and  is  in  every  way 
so  individual  and  vital,  that  for  one  preacher  to  use 
bodily  the  plan  of  another  man  as  his  own,  without  mak- 
ing it  known,  is  inexcusable.  Therefore,  all  books  which 
purport  to  be  aids  in  forming  plans  of  sermons,  are  moral 
nuisances,  and  should  be  thoroughly  condemned.  They 
are  the  excuses  of  indolence.  This  is  not  saying  that  a 
preacher  may  not  legitimately  and  honestly  derive  sug- 
gestions and  helps  from  others  in  foiming  his  plan  of  a 
sermon,  even  from  those,  perhaps,  who  have  written  upon 
the  same  theme,  although  that  is  always  a  hazardous 
thing,  and  one  should  avoid  reading  another  sermon  upon 
the  same  subject  before  writing  his  own. 

Still  again,  originality  consists  in  inventing  subjects 
that  are  really  new.  Truth  is  so  large,  and,  indeed,  limit- 
less in  its  range,  that  one  may  still  be  an  inventor.  He 
can  discover  new  forms  of  truth,  and  make  new  combi- 
nations of  forms  that  have  never  before  existed  ;  and  that 
is  a  wonderful  gain  in  preaching.  There  is  such  a  plod- 
ding on  in  familiar  ruts  of  thought,  that  something  really 
new  has  all  the  effect  of  suddenly  turning  into  a  by-road 
in  the  woods,  that  refreshes  and  awakes  the  mind  ;  for 
nothing  so  delights  the  mind,  even  the  mind  of  the  un- 
cultivated, as  a  new  view  of  truth.  Freshness  of  thought 
is  not  a  mere  weak  or  dazzling  novelty.     Vinet  has  some 


684  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

pregnant  remarks  upon  this  point.  "  There  is,  then," 
he  says,  "  legitimate  novelty — a  novelty  even  of  subjects 
— not  of  doctrines,  but  of  themes.  By  this  means,  art, 
which  is  an  affair  of  humanity,  renovates  itself  ;  the  gos- 
pel is  unchangeable,  but  it  is  divine.  In  order  to  attain 
the  novelty  of  which  we  speak,  genius  is  not  necessary, 
and  the  preacher  has  only  to  open  his  eyes  and  observe. 
Let  him  not  confine  himself  to  a  general  and  abstract 
idea  of  man,  but  let  him  study  the  men  who  are  before 
him,  and  to  whom  he  speaks.  If  he  will  but  take  this 
pains,  he  will  be  new.  The  study  is  a  difficult  one,  re- 
quiring constant  attention — one  in  which  zeal  will  sustain 
and  direct  him,  but  from  which  he  is  not  to  be- excused." 

Lastly,  originality  of  invention  consists  in  employing 
one's  own  language  and  style.  Who  can  be  in  any  sense 
original  who  does  not  give  the  impress  and  superscription 
of  his  individual  style  to  his  production  ?  Who  can 
doubt  the  originality  of  the  writing  of  Chalmers,  or  of 
Robert  South  ?  Good  or  bad,  true  or  false,  it  was  their 
own. 

In  concluding  this  point,  we  would  say,  that  two  great 
and  legitimate  sources  of  originality  to  the  preacher  are 
original  exegesis  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  bringing  of 
one's  own  experience  and  observation  of  life  to  bear  in 
the  treatment  of  spiritual  truth. 

3.  It  should  consist  of  Christian  truth.  This  is  re- 
quired, if  for  no  other  reason,  for  the  sake  of  those  whom 

he  addresses.     They  are  to  be  won  to  God 
Christian      ,  .    „,     .     .  ,  ,  , . 

th         "y  '""^^"s  of  Christian  truth,  and  they  can 

be  won  in  no  other  way.     Christ,  as  the  way 

of  eternal  life,  must  be  in  the  truth  that  really  converts  the 

soul.     As  far  as  the  hearers  are  concerned,  there  is  no 

room  for  violating  this  rule.     Whatever  does  not  partake 

essentially  of  the  nature  of  Christian  truth  is  not  the  true 


INVENTION.  685 

subject  of  the  preacher's  instructions.  The  preacher, 
besides  this,  is  also  positively  commissioned  and  com- 
manded to  preach  Christian  truth,  summed  up  in  the 
brief  sentence,  "Christ  and  him  crucified."  This,  it  is 
true,  comprehends  a  vast  sweep  of  truth,  as  may  be  illus- 
trated in  the  preaching  of  Paul,  in  which  Christ  formed 
the  subject-matter — all  beginning  and  ending  in  Christ. 
Yet  how  broad,  doctrinally  and  ethically,  was  the  range 
of  Paul's  preaching  !  It  goes  to  the  ordering  of  our 
entire  human  life  below,  and  rises  into  the  sublime  mys- 
teries of  the  life  which  is  to  come.  What,  then,  let  us 
ask  more  particularly,  is  meant  by  Christian  truth  ? 

{a.)  It  is    that    truth    which    may  be    assimilated    into 
Christianity.     In  one  sense,  all  truth  may  become  part  of 
Christianity  ;  but  whatever  of  truth  can  be 
just    as    well    treated    of    and    discussed    if  Truth  which 

Christianity  were  not,  or  were  out   of   the       '"^^ 

assimilated 
way,  could  not  properly  be  called  Christian  -^^^ 

truth.  Christianity  could  hardly,  for  exam-  Christianity, 
pie,  assimilate  to  itself  such  a  truth  as  the 
science  of  botany,  so  as  to  make  it  an  exclusive  subject 
for  the  pulpit,  although  botany  may  be  used  most  hap- 
pily in  the  way  of  illustration,  and  even  of  direct  teach- 
ing, whenever  the  natural  works  of  God  are  treated  of  ; 
but  the  principles  of  botany,  as  far  as  the  science  is  con- 
cerned, could  be  just  as  well  treated  of  by  a  heathen  as  a 
Christian,  and  by  a  natural  philosopher  as  a  Christian 
preacher  ;  therefore  it  is  more  proper  for  the  scientific 
lecture  than  for  the  pulpit. 

{b.^  It    is   that    truth  which  tends  to   edify  the  soul. 

Whatever  is  addressed  exclusively  to  the  in- 

11  1        r     1-  1        •  •        •  Truth  which 

tellect,  or  the  feehngs,  or  the  imagmation,  ^^^j^^  ^^  ^^j^y 

or  the  prudential  nature,  and  does  not  afford 

nutriment  to  the  spiritual  nature,  cannot  form  the  true 


684 


RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 


pregnant  remarks  upon  this  point.  "  There  is,  then," 
he  says,  "  legitimate  novelty— a  novelty  even  of  subjects 
— not  of  doctrines,  but  of  themes.  By  this  means,  art, 
which  is  an  affair  of  humanity,  renovates  itself  ;  the  gos- 
pel is  unchangeable,  but  it  is  divine.  In  order  to  attain 
the  novelty  of  which  we  speak,  genius  is  not  necessary, 
and  the  preacher  has  only  to  open  his  eyes  and  observe. 
Let  him  not  confine  himself  to  a  general  and  abstract 
idea  of  man,  but  let  him  study  the  men  who  are  before 
him,  and  to  whom  he  speaks.  If  he  will  but  take  this 
pains,  he  will  be  new.  The  study  is  a  difficult  one,  re- 
quiring constant  attention — one  in  which  zeal  will  sustain 
and  direct  him,  but  from  which  he  is  not  to  be- excused." 
Lastly,  originality  of  invention  consists  in  employing 
one's  own  language  and  style.  Who  can  be  in  any  sense 
original  who  does  not  give  the  impress  and  superscription 
of  his  individual  style  to  his  production  ?  Who  can 
doubt  the  originality  of  the  writing  of  Chalmers,  or  of 
Robert  South  ?  Good  or  bad,  true  or  false,  it  was  their 
own. 

In  concluding  this  point,  we  would  say,  that  two  great 
and  legitimate  sources  of  originality  to  the  preacher  are 
original  exegesis  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  bringing  of 
one's  own  experience  and  observation  of  life  to  bear  in 
the  treatment  of  spiritual  truth. 

3.  It  should  consist  of  Christian  truth.  This  is  re- 
quired, if  for  no  other  reason,  for  the  sake  of  those  whom 
he  addresses.  They  are  to  be  won  to  God 
by  means  of  Christian  truth,  and  they  can 
be  won  in  no  other  way.  Christ,  as  the  way 
of  eternal  life,  must  be  in  the  truth  that  really  converts  the 
soul.  As  far  as  the  hearers  are  concerned,  there  is  no 
room  for  violating  this  rule.  Whatever  does  not  partake 
essentially  of  the  nature  of  Christian  truth  is  not  the  true 


Christian 
truth. 


INVENTION.  687 

its  exclusive  themes  ;  such  themes  are  better  reserved  for 
the  lecture  than  the  sermon.  A  subject,  in  fine,  which 
has  not,  or  cannot  possibly  be  made  to  have,  a  decidedly 
spiritual  and  Christian  bearing,  which  does  not  radically 
influence  character,  which  does  not  prepare  the  way  for 
Christ  to  come  in  the  soul,  and  which  does  not  concern 
the  interests  of  his  eternal  kingdom,  should  not  be  made 
a  complete  and  separate  subject  for  the  pulpit.  Ever)' 
sermon  need  not  enunciate  Christian  dogma,  but  every 
sermon  should  breathe  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  and  bear 
its  message  of  peace  to  the  soul.  It  should  come  under 
that  new  system  of  truth,  that  higher  manifestation  of 
the  divine  in  the  human,  which  has  Christ  for  its  spiritual 
centre.  It  should  not  be  preaching  purely  to  the  reason, 
or  to  the  logical  faculty,  or  to  the  aesthetical  faculty  ; 
but  Christ  should  speak  in  it  to  man's  spirit,  impelling  to 
duty,  repentance,  and  a  holy  life. 

Christian  truth,  which  should  be  thus  the  subject  of 
our  preaching,  may  be  viewed  more  specifically  still,  as 
consisting  of  three  parts  :  Christian  doctrine.  Christian 
morality,  and  Christian  experience. 

(i.)  Christian  doctrine.       Here  we  find  the  main  sub- 
ject-matter, or  the   real   staple   of  preaching.     This  doc- 
trine is  simply  the  teaching  or  truth  of  God 
which  is  necessary  for  the  nourishing  of  the      Christian 
1        Ti  1  •      .-1     •     •  1  •  doctrine 

soul.      But  even  this  Christian  doctrine,  as     ^.       .     , 

'  the  staple 

we  have  said,  when  treated  in  a  scientific  of  preaching, 
manner,  may  become  the  mere  nutritnent  of 
the  intellect,  and  not  of  the  soul.  While,  therefore, 
there  should  be  enough  of  theological  discussion  in  a  ser- 
mon to  present  the  subject  clearly,  to  remove  its  difficul- 
ties, to  develop  it  in  an  orderly  manner  ;  yet,  after  all, 
the  discussion  of  truth  is  not  the  end  of  the  sermon, 
which  is  to  awake,  edify,  renew  the  soul.     As  a  general 


688  RHETORIC   APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

rule,  broad,  synthetical  views  of  truth  are  the  best.  Paul, 
though  a  born  dialectician,  will  be  found,  when  thor- 
oughly studied,  to  present  doctrinal  truth  in  an  almost 
totally  unscientific,  and  oftentimes  even  illogical  form  ; 
for  while  he  preached  doctrine,  it  was  rather  in  the  living 
forms  and  teachings  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  than  in  those 
systematic  methods  which  we  commonly  associate  with 
the  idea  of  "  doctrine" — good  for  the  treatise,  but  not 
good  for  the  pulpit. 

Dr.  Alexander  thus  remarks  on  this  point  :  "  I  am  im- 
pressed with  the  importance  of  choosing  great  subjects 
for  sermons,  such  as  creation,  the  deluge,  the  atonement, 
the  last  things,  A  man  should  begin  early  to  grapple 
with  great  subjects.  An  athlete  (2  Tim.  2  :  5)  gains 
might  only  by  great  exertions.  So  that  a  man  does  not 
overstrain  his  powers,  the  more  he  wrestles  the  better  ; 
but  he  must  wrestle,  not  merely  take  a  great  subject,  and 
dream  over  it,  and  play  with  it." 

We  should  agree  generally  with  this  suggestion  ;  but 
still  we  would  find  the  great  subject  in  the  text  itself,  or 
in  some  portion  of  the  divine  word,  rather  than  to  find  a 
text  for  the  subject,  even  if  it  be  of  a  doctrinal  character. 
We  would  have  even  "  doctrinal"  preaching  to  be  scrip- 
tural rather  than  exclusively  theological.  The  "  great 
subjects"  that  Dr.  Alexander  speaks  of  will  come  more 
readily  through  concentrated  thought  upon  some  definite 
passage  of  God's  word  than  through  the  choice  of  a  great 
subject,  commonly  so  called.  It  is  better,  for  example, 
to  find  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  as  it  lies  originally 
and  naturally  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  be  filled 
and  inspired  by  the  study  of  this  whole  Epistle,  than 
deliberately  to  write  a  sermon  on  the  abstract  and  theo- 
logical doctrine  of  the  "  atonement,"  and  preach  upon  it 
in   the   ordinary    formal  mode  of  discussion.      "  In    our 


INVENTION.  689 

anxiety  to  set  forth  a  sound  code  of  truth,  we  have  been 
directing  men,  for  example,  to  the  naked  formula  of  jus- 
tification, rather  than  to  Him  by  whom  we  are  saved,  and 
who  all  the  day  long  stretches  out  his  arms  to  receive  the 
returning  sinner.  We  have  been  teaching  men,  perhaps, 
to  trust  to  a  system,  instead  of  reposing  on  a  personal 
Saviour."'  The  most  profitable  form  of  preaching  is 
that  which,  drawn  fresh  from  scriptural  sources,  unites 
the  doctrinal  and  the  practical,  and  recognizes  the  fact 
that  the  end  of  Christian  doctrine  is  to  teach  men  how  to 
live  a  good  and  holy  life.  Doctrinal  preaching  should 
not  always  be  in  a  topical  form,  but  in  the  form  also 
of  expository  and  exegetical  preaching,  upon  which  we 
have  had  already  much  to  say.  The  true  teaching  of  the 
Scriptures  may,  perhaps,  be  better  drawn  out  in  this  way 
than  in  any  other.  It  is  quarrying  directly  from  the 
mine. 

Controversial  preaching  of  Christian  doctrine  is  rarely 
profitable.     It  may  be  sometimes  needful  ;  but,  generally 

speaking,  the  setting  forth  of  the  true  doc- 

\        ,  ,  ,  Controversial 

trme    is    the    best    way  to    refute    doctrmal     orgachine- 

error  ;  for   a  minister  of  the  gospel  is  not 
called  to  be  a  heresy-hunter  ;  but  he  should,  by  God's 
aid,  make  such  a  blaze  of  light  about  him  that  falsehood 
cannot  live  in  it. 

Preaching  upon  Christian  evidences  is  generally  consid- 
ered to  be  useful  ;  yet,  after  all,  is  not  the  best  evidence 

of    Christianity    the    manifestation     of    the 

Christian 
truth  in  the  love  of   it  ?     The  defensive  side     gyj^ences 

of  truth  should  certainly  not   be  dwelt  upon 

too  long  in  a  pulpit  which   should   speak  with  assurance 

and  authority.     Why  should   there  be  a  timidly  apolo- 


'  Oxenden's  "  Treatise,"  p.   109. 


690  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

getic  tone  forever  going  forth  from  our  Christian  pulpits, 
as  if  the  Bible  were  an  unknown  book  that  needs  to  be 
always  proving  its  divine  authority  ?  or  as  if  it  had  not 
been  attested  by  ages  of  light  ?  or  as  if  the  books  and 
words  of  men,  of  the  great  thinkers  of  past  and  present 
times,  brought  together,  could  equal  in  creative  power 
and  brightness  one  ray  of  the  sun  of  God's  word  ?  or  as 
if  Christ  were  an  obscure  personage  still  traversing  the 
hills  of  Judaea  in  peasant  guise,  and  not  having  where  to 
lay  his  head  ?  If  Christianity  has  not  proved  itself  by 
this  time  to  be  true,  it  will  never  prove  itself  to  be  so  ; 
and  therefore  we  would  have  preachers  take  higher 
ground,  and  prove  the  truth  of  Christianity  by  setting 
it  forth  more  vividly,  faithfully,  and  comprehensively. 
They  may  be  assured  that  this  is  their  one  duty,  and  that 
Christianity  is  able  to  take  care  of  its  own  evidences. 

We  do  not  say  by  this  that  the  preacher  should  not 
study  the  Christian  evidences,  and  that  it  is  not  good  for 
him  to  establish  these  in  his  mind,  and  to  bring  them 
into  his  preaching  and  pastoral  instruction,  for  confirma- 
tion in  the  truth  ;  but  we  do  say  that  to  preach  too  much 
on  the  evidences  will  make  people  finally  begin  to  doubt 
and  to  question.  It  is  better  to  preach  Christ,  and  trust 
to  the  gospel   to  prove  itself.      In  pretty  much  the  same 

category   we   would    place   preaching  upon 
theoloffv       Natural   Theology.       Vinet   considers    that, 

under  the  Christian  system,  there  is  no  such 
thing,  properly  speaking,  as  natural  religion.  He  thinks 
that  Christianity  takes  up,  completes,  and  transforms 
natural  truths,  so  that  they  become  Christian  truths. 
Undoubtedly,  no  Christian  preacher  should  treat  of 
natural  religion  excepting  from  a  Christian  point  of  view  ; 
he  should  not  descend  to  the  former  level  of  uninspired 
truth  ;  he  should  show,  rather,  that  Christianity    is  the 


INVENTION.  691 

natural  religion,  or  that  it  has  in  perfection  all  that  nature 
may  have  in  its  elements,  and  something  infinitely  more. 
Christianity  can  reason  down  upon  natural  religion  better 
than  natural  religion  can  reason  up  to  Christianity  ;  for 
while  nature,  as  the  creation  of  God,  and  thus,  in  one 
sense,  the  manifestation  of  God,  may  not  be  neglected, 
yet  the  Christian  minister  should  not  lose  sight  of  his 
higher  Christian  vantage  ground,  and  preach  natural  re- 
ligion or  natural  theology.  In  fine,  the  great  permanent 
theme  of  Christian  doctrinal  preaching  is,  that  fact  of 
human  redemption,  in  all  its  wide-spread  ramifications 
and  relations,  which  was  wrought  out  through  the  incar- 
nation, life,  atoning  death,  and  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ.  How  many  congregations  languish  under  the 
preaching  of  eloquent  divines,  because  they  are  not  sim- 
ply and  earnestly  taught  the  first  principles  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Christ,  wherein  are  the  beginnings  of  all  spiritual 
life  ;  for  Christ  alone  is  the  life,  whatever  else  there  is  of 
knowledge,  eloquence,  or  philosophy. 

(2.)  Christian    morality.     This  is   the  setting  forth  in 
preaching  of  the  principles  of  Christian  ethics  as  applied 

to    life.      It    is   (i)    telling   men    what   true 

.....  ,     .  ^     ,  ,  Christian 

morality  is,   in    its  relation    to   God    as  the  ... 

original  source  or  giver  of  the  moral  law 
to  man  as  a  subject  of  law.  It  is  (2)  the  application 
of  the  moral  law  to  all  human  actions,  both  to  man 
individually,  and  to  man  as  related  to  other  men  and 
society.  It  is  (3)  the  setting  forth  of  the  new  influ- 
ences and  obligations  which  Christianity  has  brought  into 
morality,  or  the  introduction  into  ethics  of  the  higher  law 
of  Christian  love,  of  the  personal  teachings,  example,  and 
Spirit  of  Christ,  of  the  new  virtues  and  fruits  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  creation.  It  would  treat  of  man's  moral  rela- 
tions under  the   Christian  law  of  love  to  the  family,  the 


692  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHIXG. 

Church,  the  State,  the  race — it  regards  comprehensively 
the  whole  practical  conduct  of  life,  as  governed  by  the 
Christian  moral  law,  negatively  as  regards  vice,  positively 
as  regards  virtue.  What  a  wide  sweep  this  kind  of 
preaching  may  take  in  the  fields  of  man's  almost  infinite 
moral  relations,  need  but  be  hinted  ;  and,  as  yet  it  is  a 
fresh  field,  because  preaching  has  been  heretofore  so 
greatly  confined  to  the  dogmatic  aspects  of  truth.  Christ 
himself  made  one  chief  element  of  his  preaching  to 
consist  in  the  right  interpretation  of  the  moral  law — the 
law  of  duty  and  life  ;  and  here  is  to  be  one  of  the  reforms 
of  the  pulpit — that  it  should  be  more  practical,  leading 
to  "  charity  out  of  a  pure  heart  ;"  that  it  should  deal 
with  the  whole  of  life  in  a  Christian  point  of  view — with 
man's  personal  relations  as  son,  husband,  father,  friend, 
neighbor,  citizen,  business  man,  and  member  of  the 
human  brotherhood.  "  We  want  a  Christianity  that  is 
Christian  across  counters,  over  dinner-tables,  behind  the 
neighbor's  back  as  in  his  face.  W^e  want  a  Christianity 
that  we  can  find  in  the  temperance  of  the  meal,  in  mod- 
eration of  dress,  in  respect  for  authority,  in  amiability  at 
home,  in  veracity  and  simplicity  in  mixed  society.  We 
want  fewer  gossiping,  slandering,  gluttonous,  peevish, 
conceited,  bigoted  Christians.  To  make  them  effectual, 
all  our  public  religious  measures,  institutions,  benevolent 
agencies,  missions,  need  to  be  managed  on  a  high-toned, 
scrupulous,  and  unquestionable  scale  of  honor,  without 
evasion  or  partisanship,  or  overmuch  of  the  serpent's 
cunning.  The  hand  that  gives  away  the  Bible  must  be 
unspotted  from  the  world.  The  money  that  sends  the 
missionary  to  the  heathen  must  be  honestly  earned.  In 
short,  both  the  arms  of  the  Church — justice  and  mercy — 
must  be  stretched  out,  working  for  man,  strengthening 
the  brethren,  or  else  your  faith  is  vain,  and  ye  are  yet  in 


INVENTION.  693 

your  sins."  '  The  morals  of  trade  is  a  subject  by  itself, 
and  a  painfully  fruitful  one  under  the  light  of  the  Chris- 
tian civilization  of  the  age.  When  it  is  said  that  in  Eng- 
land and  America  a  strictly  conscientious  business  man, 
who  will  condescend  in  no  particular  to  the  hundred 
illicit  practices  of  his  particular  line  of  business,  is  apt  to 
be  driven  out  of  it  or  to  be  unsuccessful  in  it,  then  it  is 
time  for  God's  ministers  and  prophets  to  thunder  the  law 
of  God  to  the  consciences  of  business  men  who  are  pro- 
fessed or  nominal  Christians.  The  minister  of  God's  gos- 
pel should  never  for  one  instant  become  the  flatterer  or 
encourager  of  wealth  wrongfully  obtained.  He  should 
preach  integrity  to  young  business  men,  and  tell  them 
to  be  and  remain  poor  rather  than  trade  on  borrowed 
capital,  speculate  in  gambling  stock  operations,  or  make 
haste  to  be  rich  before  the  time.  If  a  Christian  is  not  an 
honest  man,  there  is  no  use  in  saying  anything  more  about 
Christianity. 

Dr.  Chalmers  was  eminently  a  preacher  of  practical 
morality.  "  He  set  his  face  against  every  form  of  evil, 
both  in  the  pulpit  and  out  of  it.  He  particularly  pressed 
upon  country  people  thorough  honesty  and  uprightness, 
and  the  practice  of  the  law  of  love  by  abstaining  from  all 
malice  and  evil  speaking.  The  ostentation  of  flaming 
orthodoxy,  or  talk  of  religious  experience  which  was  not 
borne  out  by  the  life,  was  the  object  of  his  thorough 
abhorrence."  When  he  preached  his  commercial  ser- 
mons in  Glasgow,  business  men  would  leave  the  church 
with  expressions  of  violent  hostility,  but  they  would  be 
present  when  he  preached  the  succeeding  discourse.  To 
tell  these  men  of  influence  and  high  social  standing  that 
their  city  was  given  up   to   the  idolatry  of  money,  and 

'  Dr.  F.  D.  Huntington. 


694  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

that  where  the  love  of  money  is,  the  love  of  God  could 
not  be — to  show  them  how  even  business  integrity  might 
coexist  with  a  corrupt  heart,  and  that  this  fair  show  of 
virtue  might  spring  from  pure  selfishness — required  no 
common  courage. 

Professor  Shepard  said  to  his  theological  pupils  : 
"  Young  men  !  preach  the  duties.  Often  recur  to  the 
tables  of  the  law,  and  dwell  upon  '  Thou  shalt '  and 
'  Thou  shalt  not,'  lest  you  fill  the  Church  with  converted 
scoundrels." 

Fontaine,  a  Huguenot  preacher  at  Taunton,  England, 
expounded  the  text  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal"  so  effectively 
as  to  make  a  bitter  personal  enemy  of  an  influential  mem- 
ber of  his  congregation,  who,  unknown  to  him,  had  been 
engaged  in  a  doubtful  business  transaction  ;  and  it  re- 
sulted in  his  being  driven  from  the  pastoral  charge  of  the 
church.  It  is  good  to  read  of  such  faithfulness  in  a 
preacher  ;  for  the  flattery  of  the  rich,  and  sometimes  the 
total  lack  of  reproof  of  the  unrighteously  rich — in  other 
words,  the  ignoring  and  thus  the  supporting  of  absolute 
dishonesty — is  the  besetting  sin  of  ministers. 

In  our  methods  of  ethical  preaching  we  should  be  care- 
ful not  to  confound  Christian  morality  with  mere  natural 
virtue,  for  morality  may  be  treated  in  a  false 

Christian     ^r^^y  j^i  the  pulpit,  by  disconnecting  it  from 

moral  y  no     ^^^^  life-springs  of  Christian  faith.      "  Morals 
to  be  con- 
founded  with  can  seldom   gain   living  energy  without  the 

natural  virtue,  impulsive  force  derived  from  spirituals.  Plato 
and  Cicero  may  indeed  talk  of  the  surpass- 
ing beauty  of  virtue  ;  nor  do  we  doubt  that  a  man's 
own  self-respect  may  make  him  choose  to  die,  rather 
than  live  degraded  in  his  own  eyes  by  deviating  from  his 
ideal  of  right  conduct.  Let  old  stoicism  be  confessed  to 
be  noble  and  honorable  ;  yet  it  makes  the  mind   too  ex- 


INVENTION.  695 

clusively  reflexive,  and  engenders  pride  and  self-confi- 
dence. Virtue  is  an  abstraction,  a  set  of  wise  rules — 
not  a  person — and  cannot  call  out  affection,  as  an  exterior 
to  the  soul  does.  On  the  contrary,  God  is  a  person  ; 
and  the  love  of  him  is  of  all  affections  far  the  most  ener- 
getic in  exciting  us  to  realize  our  highest  idea  of  moral 
excellence,  and  in  clearing  the  moral  sight.  Other  things 
being  equal  (a  condition  not  to  be  forgotten),  a  spiritual 
man  will  hold  a  higher  and  purer  morality  than  a  mere 
moralist.  Not  only  does  duty  manifest  itself  to  him  as 
an  ever-expanding  principle,  but,  since  a  larger  part  of 
duty  becomes  pleasant  and  easy  when  performed  under 
the  stimulus  of  love,  the  will  is  enabled  to  concentrate 
itself  more  in  that  which  remains  dilificult,  and  greater 
power  of  performance  is  attained.  Hence,  '  what  the 
law  could  not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh,' 
is  fulfilled  in  those  '  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but 
after  the  spirit.'  "  ' 

Moral  duty  may  be  treated  by  the  preacher  philo- 
sophically, or  rationally,  or  prudentially,  and  yet  not 
vitally,  as  touched  by  the  Christian  principle,  which  con- 
cerns itself  with  the  inner  rule  of  right,  and  the  mind's 
free  choice  to  do  right.  The  virtue  of  temperance  may  be 
made  a  purely  stoical,  or  political,  or  hygienic  virtue,  and 
be  violently  torn  out  of  the  circle  of  Christian  virtues  and 
of  that  Christian  character  which  is  moulded  freely  by  the 
great  law  of  righteousness  and  love. 

The  disinterested  character  of  virtue,  as  opposed  to  the 
utilitarian  school,  and  as  coming  nearer  to    Disinterested 
the  Christian  principle  of  virtue,  should  be     character  of 
upheld,  lest  virtue  be  made  to  be   a  mere         virtue, 
happiness-bringing   expedient.     The   Hobbes   theory   of 


'  F.  W.  Newman,  "  The  Soul,"  p.  124. 


696  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

virtue,  to  which  that  of  Paley  is  closely  allied,  that  vir- 
tue is  simply  what  is  best  for  man  and  for  society,  and 
that  it  should  be  supported  because  virtue  best  pro- 
motes the  sum  of  human  happiness — that  "virtue  is 
only  a  judicious,  and  vice  an  injudicious,  pursuit  of 
happiness" — this,  we  believe,  is  a  totally  inadequate  view 
of  the  matter.'  Virtue,  as  a  principle  of  self-love  directed 
to  gain  heaven  and  shun  hell,  though  a  true  motive,  be- 
longs to  the  prudential  class  of  motives,  and  is  not,  when 
taken  strictly  by  and  in  itself,  a  moral  or  religious  motive, 
it  is  an  expedient  and  not  a  principle.  Virtue  is  some- 
thing more  profound.  It  belongs  to  the  absolute  and  un- 
changeable constitution  of  things.  Since  man  possesses 
a  nature  made  in  the  moral  image  of  God,  on  which  God 
has  written  the  immutable  law  of  right,  so  man  should  do 
right  because  it  is  right,  because  it  is  the  highest  law  of 
his  nature,  and  of  God,  and  not  from  selfish  motives.  He 
should  love  virtue  in  all  its  forms  of  justice,  holiness, 
goodness,  and  truth,  for  virtue's  sake.  The  preacher 
should  appeal  mainly  to  this  higher  nature  in  man,  to  the 
true  dignity  of  his  original  nature  made  in  God's  moral 
image,  to  the  abstract  sense  of  right  and  morality.  This 
gives  him  an  immense  advantage.  While  doing  this  he 
may  appeal  also  to  the  more  concrete  idea  of  virtue,  or 
to  the  principle  of  right  in  its  actual  relation  to  men's 
circumstances  where  the  idea  of  human  imperfection, 
and,  to  a  certain  sense,  of  expediency  comes  in.  The 
Scriptures  recognize  this  to  a  certain  extent.  They  warn 
us  to  seek  salvation.  But  what  is  this  salvation,  and  what 
is  it  worth  if  it  is  not  salvation  from  sin,  salvation  from 
moral  evil,  salvation  from  what  is  wrong  ?  Differ  as  we 
may  from  Herbert  Spencer  in  other  things,  his  position  is 


'  See  Lecky's  "  History  of  European  Morals." 


INVENTION.  697 

a  true  one  uhcre  he  says,  "  Granted  that  we  are  chiefly 
interested  in  ascertaining  what  is  relatively  right  ;  it  still 
follows  that  we  must  first  consider  what  is  absolutely 
right  ;  since  the  one  conception  presupposes  the  other. 
That  is  to  say,  though  we  must  ever  aim  to  do  what  is 
best  for  the  present  times,  yet  we  must  ever  bear  in 
mind  what  is  abstractedly  best  ;  so  that  the  changes  may 
be  toward  it,  and  not  away  from  it.  Unattainable  as 
pure  rectitude  is,  and  may  long  continue  to  be,  we  must 
keep  an  eye  on  the  compass  which  tells  us  whereabout  it 
lies,  or  we  shall  otherwise  be  liable  to  wander  in  some 
quite  opposite  direction  ;  and  how  immense  would  be  the 
evils  avoided  and  the  benefits  gained  if  a  posteriori  mo- 
rality were  enlightened  by  a  priori  morality."  ' 

•  Christianity  comes  in  here  and  supplies  the  grand  per- 
sonal motive  to  virtue — the  law  and  love  of  God — devo- 
tion to  the  personal  Christ — the  loving  imitation  of  his 
life  and  character  ;  but  still  the  moral  foundations  of  vir- 
tue are  the  same  in  the  Christian  and  in  the  heathen  and 
in  all  moral  creatures  ;  it  is  the  law  of  right  which  the 
Creator  has  impressed  upon  the  human  spirit,  and  by 
which  God  himself,  the  Best  Spirit,  guides  his  own  acts. 

But   the   Christian  preacher  has  immense  advantages 
over  the  mere  moralist  in  preaching  morality,  from  what 
should  be  his  greater  love  to  men,  and  from 
the  Christian  standpoint  of  Christ's  work  for  How 

sinful  men,    delivering  them    from  sin,  and      Christian 

DrccLchcrs 
righting  them,  so  to  speak,  in    their   moral  ^j^^^^j^  ^^^^^^ 

characters.      He  may  preach  the  law  of  mo-      morality. 

rality  with  infinitely  more  of  tolerance  and 

tender  application  to  the  individual  heart  than  the  natural 

or  Stoical  moralist.     He  preaches  morality  from  the  side 


'  "  Essays,"  American  edition,  p.  24. 


698  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

of  love.  Yet  he  should  ever  keep  the  moral  ideal  high 
and  pure  ;  he  should  rise  above  the  utilitarian  view  of 
virtue  ;  he  should  seek  his  ideals  in  heavenly  things,  in 
the  perfect  law  and  nature  of  God,  and  in  the  disinterest- 
ed and  self-sacrificing  love  of  Christ. 

He  should  preach  honesty,  benevolence,  justice,  for- 
giveness, temperance,  chastity,  and  all  the  Christian  vir- 
tues, from  this  true  principle  of  accord  with  immutable 
right  ;  aided,  impelled,  and  purified  by  the  Christian  mo- 
tives of  love  and  of  duty  to  a  personal  God  and  Father, 
through  which  motives  sinful  beings  can  alone  perfectly 
obey  the  moral  law.  This  is  that  love  which  is  better 
than  knowledge,  and  which  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law. 
It  is  indeed  one  of  the  great  ends  of  preaching,  if  not 
the  great  end,  according  to  St.  Paul,  in  his  Epistle  to 
Timothy,  to  bring  men  into  that  charity  out  of  a  pure 
heart  which  makes  men  truly  righteous,  which  builds 
them  up  in  a  true  holiness,  which  moulds  them  by  the 
truth  and  spirit  of  God  into  good  men. 

A  modern  writer  well  remarks  here  :  "  Christianity 
founds  morality  upon  theology,  and  besides  theological 
doctrines  it  offers  other  influences — the  human  example 
of  Christ,  the  lives  of  prophets,  apostles,  and  saints — in 
order  to  accomplish  that  which  it  regards  as  the  essential 
and  difficult  preparation  for  morality  ;  namely,  the  gen- 
eral disposing  of  the  will  toward  right  and  orderly  action. 
It  is  in  laying  this  theological  basis  and  in  bringing  to 
bear  these  preparatory  influences  that  Christian  teachers 
occupy  themselves  almost  exclusively.  I  do  not  find 
fault  with  what  they  do,  but  it  seems  to  me  none  the  less 
lamentable  that  they  should  leave  the  direct  teaching  of 
morality  almost  entirely  undone."  * 


'  "  Roman  Imperialism  etc.,"  p.  261. 


INVENTION.  699 

This  author  further  counsels  that  preachers  should  use 
the  examples  of  good  men  of  our  own  day,  "  of  the  virtue 
that  is  near  us  in  time  and  space,"  as  well  as  the  lives 
and  examples  of  biblical  saints  and  holy  characters  ;  and 
that  moral  preaching  should  take  a  wider  range  in  this 
respect  ;  but  this  suggestion,  though  worthy  of  being  car- 
ried into  practice,  may  be  overdone,  and  sermons  may 
degenerate  into  biographical  lectures  and  eulogies,  and 
lose  out  of  them  the  divinely  teaching  element  of  in- 
spiration. 

There  is  also  the  interesting  field  of  the  application  of 
Christian  morality  to  questions  of  government,  citizen- 
ship,  and   politics.     Tocqueville    says,   "  It 

,  ,^      .,...•;,     .  Political 

appears  to  me  that  morality  is  divisible  into     preachinjr 

two  portions,  both  equally  important  in  the 
eyes  of  God,  but  which  his  ministers  do  not  teach  with 
equal  energy.  One  respects  private  life — the  duties  of 
mankind,  a  father,  children,  husbands  and  wives  ;  the 
other  respects  public  life — the  duties  of  every  citizen  to 
his  country  and  to  the  portion  of  the  human  race  to 
which  he  specially  belongs.  Am  I  mistaken  in  thinking 
that  our  clergy  care  much  about  the  first  branch  of  mo- 
rality, and  little  about  the  second  ?"  As  to  the  question 
of  preaching  upon  politics,  it  is  true  that  human  politics, 
in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term,  should  not  form  the 
theme  of  the  preacher  of  eternal  truth  ;  but  a  higher  idea 
of  the  subject  of  politics,  viewed  as  the  application  of 
Christian  ethics  to  human  affairs  and  government,  and 
even  in  the  old  Greek  sense  of  /;  nokiriKi)  as  the  life-prin- 
ciple of  the  State — this  is  a  different  thing  ;  and  here  it 
comes  fairly  under  Tocqueville's  second  division  of  pub- 
lic morality.  Upon  this  subject  the  preacher  is  con- 
scientiously bound,  under  proper  limitations,  and  accord- 
ing to   the  proportions  of  truth,  to  bestow  his    thought 


700  EHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

and  give  his  instructions.  And  he  is  the  more  bound  to 
do  so  when  those  instructions  are  peculiarly  needed, 
when  public  opinion  has  gone  wrong,  when  there  is  a  de- 
cided and  dangerous  perversion  of  right  principles  in  rela- 
tion to  civil  matters,  when  men  and  the  State  have 
become  oppressive  and  unjust,  and  when  liberty  is  im- 
perilled. Then  the  preacher  should  stand  up  boldly,  and 
proclaim  the  right,  even  as  did  John  the  Baptist,  Peter, 
and  Paul.  This  is  not  only  the  preacher's  privilege,  but 
his  duty  ;  he  would  be  basely  derelict  in  duty  not  to  do 
so.  As  an  American,  he  would  be  false  to  the  history 
and  example  of  a  Puritan  pulpit,  which,  in  the  Old  World 
and  the  New,  has  ever  upheld  the  cause  of  freedom. 
And  yet  that  is  not  advocating  political  preaching,  of 
which,  it  may  be,  there  has  been  too  much  in  the  past. 
Dr.  South  was  what  we  would  call  a  "  political  preach- 
er," even  as,  doubtless,  many  who  opposed  him  were 
"  political  preachers  ;"  for  men  like  South  fought  for 
their  party  in  the  pulpit,  and  with  all  kinds  of  weapons  ; 
and  their  minds  were  evidently  more  ardently  engaged  in 
these  partisan  conflicts  than  in  the  great  ends  of  preach- 
ing the  gospel.  In  the  legitimate  application  of  preach- 
ing to  politics — to  quote  from  another — four  principles  are 
to  be  lobserved  or  aimed  after,  (i.)  A  recognition  of  God 
as  the  moral  governor  of  nations  and  source  of  national 
authority.  (2.)  A  recognition  of  the  universal  brother- 
hood and  equality  of  man  in  civil  rights  ;  requiring  rulers 
to  enact  such  laws  as  bear  equally  on  the  whole  popula- 
tion. (3.)  The  inculcation  of  the  moral  law  of  God  as  the 
supreme  guide  in  all  legislative,  judicial,  and  executive 
business  of  our  public  officers,  and  in  all  political  action 
of  private  citizens.  (4.)  The  historic  proof  of  absolute 
certainty  of  the  retribution  for  national  crimes.  Politics, 
then,  should  be  apart,  and  a  principal  part,  of  the  studies 


invention:  701 

of  the  clergy.  "  To  discover  and  popularize  the  lessons 
that  may  be  drawn  from  our  history,  to  idealize  the 
nation  and  familiarize  it  in  its  unity  to  the  minds  of  its 
members,  is  a  most  vital  part  of  the  moral  teaching  of  the 
community.  The  phrase,  political  religion,  may  have 
very  different  meanings  ;  there  are  two  senses  in  which  it 
signifies  a  hateful  thing,  but  there  is  a  third  sense,  in 
which  it  is  an  admirable  and  necessary  thing.  It  is  a 
hateful  thing  when  it  means  religion  made  the  tool  of  a 
political  party,  or  governing  class  ;  as  when  the  Church 
consecrated  the  absolutism  of  the  Stuarts,  or,  on*  a 
smaller  scale,  when  the  parson  preaches  submission  to 
the  squire.  It  is  a  hateful  thing  when  it  means  the 
Church  interfering  with  public  affairs  merely  with  a  view 
of  strengthening  its  own  position,  of  preserving  its  own 
influence,  or  privileges,  or  endowments.  But  when  a 
Church  is  independent  of  political  parties,  and  sure  of 
the  respect  of  the  people,  when  it  can  speak  with  impar- 
tiality and  with  authority,  then  political  religion  means 
only  the  purifying  of  politics  by  connecting  them  with 
duty,  honor,  and  piety  ;  it  means  only  the  discourage- 
ment of  faction,  the  assertion  of  general  principles,  the 
keeping  before  the  eyes  of  the  people  a  political  ideal. 
And  as  in  the  former  sense  political  religion  is  only 
another  name  for  corrupt  religion,  in  the  latter  sense  it 
is  another  name  for  worthy  and  noble  politics."  '  This 
passage  has  a  good  sound  and  contains  much  truth  ;  but 
whether  the  hard-worked  minister  of  the  gospel  can,  be- 
yond general  principles,  do  much  in  the  way  of  profound 
study  and  elucidation  of  the  difificult  science  of  political 
economy,  is  a  question.  He  should  intelligently  study 
and  comprehend   the  constitution  and  laws  of  his  coun- 


'  "  Roman  Imperialism,"  p.  292. 


703  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

try,  and  should  be  established  in  the  principles  of  right 
legislation  and  of  sound  government.  He  is  called  upon 
to  set  forth  the  moral  foundations  of  the  State  and 
of  society,  as  related  to  the  law  and  government  of  God, 
not  to  turn  lecturer  on  political  science,  or  social  sci- 
ence, or  the  relation  of  labor  to  capital,  or  such  topics. 

To  speak  more  particularly  of  questions   of  moral  re- 
form, while  these  should  enter  into,  yet  even  these  should 

not  form   the  main  substance  and    material 
Preaching  on  111. 

m  ral  reform         ^^^^  preachmg  ;  for  the  preacher  should 

be  seen  to  have  the  deeper  mind  to  delight 
to  make  Christ  all  in  all  ;  and  he  should  speak  on  these 
subjects  of  moral  reform  as  Christ's  messenger,  as  ex- 
pressing his  pure  and  loving  will  ;  for  Christian  morality 
is,  after  all,  nothing  but  the  carrying  out  and  the  uni- 
versal application  of  the  law  of  love.  Dr.  Arnold  always 
maintained  the  idea  that  the  true  end  and  work  of  the 
Church  was  "the  putting  down  of  moral  evil."  But 
it  must  be  put  down  by  moral  and  spiritual  weapons, 
by  reason,  and  love,  and  the  gospel,  not  by  force  and  vio- 
lence. There  is  a  noticeable  difference  between  being  a 
Christian  reformer  and  a  Christian  preacher,  and  the  Chris- 
tian preacher  should  be  both  ;  but  he  should  be  a  preacher 
distinctively  and  primarily.  Let  a  minister  be,  first  of 
all,  a  preacher  of  Christian  truth,  and  then  he  will,  of 
necessity,  be  a  reformer  ;  let  him  look  well  to  the  posi- 
tive side  of  truth — to  the  establishment  of  truth — and 
from  this  position  let  him  attack  the  institutions  of  sin. 
In  this  way  he  will  preserve  his  balance,  and  not  become 
denunciatory,  or  lose  the  blessed  chanty  of  the  gospel 
for  human  sins.  With  the  conditions  and  limitations 
thus  laid  down,  the  gospel  is  to  be  applied  freely,  boldly, 
searchingly,  to  all  relations  of  human  life  and  society. 
Few   American   preachers    have    done    this   with  more 


INVENTION.  705 

power  than  Dr.  Charming,  though  in  doctrinal  views  we 
differ  with  him  ;  but  to  him  belongs  the  credit  of  nobly 
and  freely  applying  in  his  preaching  the  principles  of 
Christian  ethics  to  matters  of  social,  governmental,  and 
public  reform  ;  and  his  sermons,  in  this  respect,  are  still 
models,  not  only  in  their  eloquent  thought,  but  in  the 
large  sympathy  which  they  manifest  for  the  moral  condi- 
tion and  prospects  of  the  whole  human  family. 

While  thus  advocating  strongly  the  preaching  of  moral 
reform  under  the  conditions  that  have  been  laid  down, 
we  would  guard  against  any  encouragement  of  that  kind 
of  minute  police  system  of  moral-reform  preaching  which 
pries  into  other  men's  business,  which  hectors  and  dra- 
goons them  into  duty,  and  which  labors  to  mend  every 
little  social  abuse,  error,  and  evil  in  the  community,  in 
this  public  way  ;  but  on  the  contrary,  we  would  advocate 
the  idea  that  the  truth  itself  should  be  faithfully,  pa- 
tiently, lovingly,  fearlessly  preached,  and  it  will,  in  due 
time,  correct  those  lesser  faults  and  abuses. 

Before  leaving  this  point  of  ethical  preaching,  which  is 
a  comparatively  new  field,  we  would  treat  as  a  separate 
question  involving  most  important  principles,  the  topic 
of  the  relations  of  the  law  to  the  gospel.  In  this  argu- 
ment things  may  be  repeated  which  have  been  already 
enunciated,  but  it  may  be  useful  to  the  student  to  have 
this  vital  subject  put  into  the  form  of  a  separate  dis- 
cussion. 

There  is  no  error  more  subtle  and  dangerous  than  the 
idea  that  the  law  of  God  does  not  form  a  perfect  stand- 
ard   of   action,  but    adapts    itself   to    man's 

wishes  and  imperfect  moral  condition.     The      ^  *  '°°^  ° 

the  law  to 
conception  that   the  law   is  thus  a  shifting     ^^   o-osoel 

rule  is  destructive  of  all  true  righteousness. 

Obedience  to   a  right  moral   standard   is  as  imperative 


704  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

under  the  gospel  as  under  the  law.  The  justification  of 
the  gospel  does  not  touch  those  who  are  disobedient  to 
the  law  of  God  in  their  hearts.  Christianity  is  no  para- 
dise of  the  lawless  or  dreamland  of  lotus-eaters.  The 
grand  old  principle  of  duty  is  as  truly  a  watchword  of  the 
religion  of  Christ  as  it  was  of  the  religion  of  Moses. 
Often  the  believer,  hard  pressed  by  the  temptations  and 
trials  of  life,  can  say  nothing  but  this  :  "I  will  just  try 
to  do  the  will  of  God,  and  press  on." 

The  law  of  God  in  its  most  comprehensive  sense  is  sim- 
ply the  manifestation  of  the  will  of  God.  It  is  the  pure 
expression  of  his  spirit  and  nature.  It  is  that  desire,  or 
command,  which  goes  forth  from  God  as  the  stream 
from  the  fountain  ;  and  as  there  is  but  one  divine  law- 
giver, so  there  can  be  but  one  divine  law,  the  undivided 
and  perfect  expression  of  the  mind  of  the  lawgiver,  un- 
changeable and  eternal.  No  new  events  or  facts  in  the 
moral  universe  can  change  the  law — not  even  the  great 
facts  of  sin  and  redemption.  These  modify  only  the  rela- 
tions of  the  subject  to  the  law. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  perfect  standard — "  the  law  is 
holy,  and  just,  and  good."  To  suggest  the  possibility 
of  God's  putting  forth  any  expression  of  an  imperfect 
moral  standard,  or  aught  but  a  perfectly  righteous  one, 
were  less  respectful  than  to  impugn  the  glory  of  the  lower 
heavens  and  cast  contempt  on  the  law  that  leads  in  har- 
mony the  movements  of  the  natural  universe.  It  were 
far  less  destructive  to  deny  the  perfection  of  a  physical 
than  of  a  moral  law. 

If  the  law  is  thus  perfect  and  immutable,  if  it  is  not 
lowered  to  meet  the  changing  conditions  of  an  imperfect 
and  sinful  creature,  how  comes  it  about  that  Christianity 
seems  to  build  upon  another  principle  of  perfection  ? 
How  is  it  that  the  apostle  to  the    Gentiles  in    so  many 


INVENTION.  70s 

words  declares  concerning  believers  that  they  "  are  not 
under  the  law  ;"  and  that  "  by  the  works  of  the  law  no 
flesh  can  be  justified  ;"  and,  above  all,  that  the  law  is 
done  away  by  Christ  ? 

Has  the  law,  indeed,  abdicated  the  throne  since  the 
coming  of  Christ  ?  Has  the  law  of  God  changed  itself 
into  some  poor,  inferior  thing  by  which  its  absolute  claims 
upon  the  spirit  of  man  are  nullified  ? 

These  questions  are  difficult  ;  we  would  attempt  in  the 
briefest  manner  to  offer  some  humble  suggestions  toward 
their  explanation. 

In  discussing  the  relations  of  the  law  to  the  gospel,  it  is 
necessary  to  understand  the  meaning  which  the  apostle 
Paul  commonly  gives  to  the  word  "  law." 

In  those  places  where  the  word  is  used  without  the 
article  [ro/io,],  as  in  Romans  3  :  12  ;  3:31;  4  :  13,  14, 
15  ;  5  :  13,  20  ;  7:1;  10  :  4  ;  13:8;  i  Cor.  9  :  20  ;  Gal. 
2:21;  3:11,  18,  21;  4:5;  Phil.  3:6;  and  also  where 
the  principal  noun  has  no  article,  as  spy  a  vofxov — in  those 
places  it  is  laid  down  by  Winer  and  other  scholars  that 
the  reference  is  invariably  to  the  Mosaic  law. 

Undoubtedly  this  is  true  ;  but  if  there  were  no  other 
idea  attached  to  the  "  law"  than  simply  that  of  the  law 
of  Moses,  and  especially  of  its  prescriptive  and  cere- 
monial part,  the  question  of  the  doing  away  of  the  law 
by  the  dispensation  of  Christ  would  not  be  so  difficult. 

If,  when  Paul  speaks  of  his  own  righteousness  which  is 
of  the  law,  and  in  which  he  was  blameless,  he  referred 
simply  to  the  Mosaic  dispensation  and  to  no  other  prin- 
ciple, then  we  can  see  the  justness  of  his  self-condemna- 
tion, that  his  righteousness  was  no  true  righteousness  ; 
and  if  the  "  works  of  the  law"  were  merely  "  ritual  pre- 
scriptions," we  can  readily  believe  that  by  them  no  man 
is  justified. 


7o6  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

Being  by  birth  and  education  a  Jew,  the  apostle,  when 
he  speaks  of  the  "  law,"  refers  without  question  to  the 
Mosaic  law  ;  but,  speaking  also  as  a  Christian,  he  does 
this  in  a  somewhat  secondary  sense  ;  that  is,  it  was  the 
law  of  God  expressed  through  the  mouth  and  the  institu- 
tions of  Moses.  The  principle  of  divine  law  was  deeper 
than  the  Mosaic  law.  Those  to  whom  he  wrote,  as  Jews, 
regarded  the  law  of  God  as  embodied  in  the  institutions 
of  Moses.  That  was  to  them  the  sole  expression  of  the 
moral  and  prescriptive  law  of  God.  That  was  the  law. 
They  were  right  in  this,  because  God's  law  was  given 
through  Moses  ;  and,  in  so  far  as  the  Mosaic  institutions 
expressed  the  eternal  principles  of  righteousness  revealed 
to  Moses,  it  was  the  law  of  God.  What  was  merely  tem- 
porary and  ceremonial  in  it  is  done  away.  What  belonged 
to  a  special  outward  theocracy  suited  to  the  religious 
condition  of  the  age  and  of  the  race,  is  abolished.  But 
underneath  all  was  the  eternal  law  of  righteousness, 
which  belongs  to  no  particular  age  or  people,  and  which 
appeals  to  the  universal  moral  consciousness.  To  this, 
above  all,  Paul  undoubtedly  referred  when  he  spoke  of 
the  law — to  this  larger  and  deeper  idea  of  law,  embracing 
the  Mosaic  law  wherein  it  comprehended  the  eternal 
principles  of  righteousness,  but  going  beyond  and  be- 
neath the  outward  institution  and  precept. 

This  law,  which  speaks  to  the  conscience  of  every  man, 
both  Jew  and  Gentile,  which  is  perfect,  which  is  one  and 
unchangeable,  is,  nevertheless,  according  to  the  apostle, 
insufficient  as  a  principle  of  salvation.  It  is  not  lowered 
an  iota  as  a  moral  standard  by  Christianity,  bu^  yet  it  is 
powerless  to  save.  It  contains  no  principle  of  new 
spiritual  life.  While  it  remains  as  a  perfect  standard  to 
the  righteous,  it  is  a  death-principle  to  the  sinner.  He 
who  lives  under  it  as  a  principle  of  justification  and  salva- 


LWENTION.  707 

tion  is  spiritually  dead.  Why  is  this  ?  The  answer  is  all- 
important  in  its  practical  bearings. 

Real  obedience  is  something  of  the  heart  ;  it  supposes 
a  right  disposition  of  mind.  The  outward  obedience  pro- 
ceeds from  the  inward  disposition.  God  can  see  this,  if 
man  cannot.  He  can  also  perceive  the  absence  of  this 
right  disposition  of  heart  ;  and  if  it  be  absent,  then  the 
"  righteousness  which  is  by  the  law,"  is  only,  after  all,  a 
seeming  righteousness,  and  by  its  best  works,  now  as  in 
Paul's  time,  no  man  is  justified. 

This  right  disposition  of  heart  —  how  shall  it  be 
obtained  ?  Here  the  law  is  powerless,  "  for  if  there  had 
been  a  law  given  which  could  have  given  life,  verily 
righteousness  should  have  been  by  the  law."  But  the 
law  is  only  the  imperative  expression  of  an  externally 
prescribed  rule  of  action,  and  it  is  totally  unable  to  pro- 
duce an  internal  change  of  disposition.'  It  indeed  com- 
mands obedience,  but  it  gives  no  ability  to  obey.  It  re- 
quires a  spiritual  righteousness,  but  it  is  utterly  impotent 
to  impart  that  new  life  from  which  such  righteousness 
flows. 

This  new  life  must  first  be  created  within  the  sinful 
soul,  and  then  the  obedience,  springing  up  from  within, 
meets  the  law  and  flows  on  in  the  currents  of  the  law's 
righteous  requirements.  All  its  acts  done  in  this  spirit 
have  the  beautiful  character  of  "  good  works."  Then 
the  law  has  no  restraining  or  coercive  element,  and  it  is 
even  as  if  there  were  no  law  at  all. 

Thus  it  is  said  that  the  believer  in  Christ  is  no  longer 
"  under  the  law."  When,  through  the  power  of  faith  in 
Christ,  a  new  divine  life  comes  into  the  soul,  the  man  is 
delivered  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.     The  law  is  for 


'  See  Neander's  "  Planting  and  Training,"  p.  236. 


7o8  RHETORIC   APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

the  sinner  who  disobeys  it,  and  not  for  the  righteous 
man  who  loves  it.  The  sinner  feels  the  weight  of  the 
yoke,  but  with  the  believer  the  bondage  is  over  because 
the  spirit  is  free.  He  lives  and  works  out  his  religious 
life  under  a  new  principle,  not  of  law  but  of  grace. 
Having  been  made  a  partaker  of  the  "  divine  nature," 
he  delights  inwardly  in  the  law  of  God,  and  this  becomes 
the  law  of  his  own  nature  which  he  unconsciously  obeys 
from  a  free  impulse  of  love.  This  love  is  the  fulfilling  of 
the  law. 

Thus  we  have  revealed  to  us  the  new  dispensation  of 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  whose  central  principle  is  love  ;  and 
they  who  linger  under  the  old  system  of  law  and  works, 
may  be  strong  men — may  do  many  wonderful  works — 
may,  even  to  the  eye  of  God,  possess  the  hidden  root  of 
righteousness  in  them,  but  they  are  not  distinctively 
Christians  ;  they  are  not  free  men  in  the  liberty  where- 
with Christ  makes  free.  They  are  not  believers  after  the 
pattern  of  Paul  and  John.  They  do  not  know  the  spring 
of  a  divine  life  and  power  which  makes  "  new  men"  in 
Christ.  The  religion  of  law  may  restrain  sin  for  a  while, 
but  it  cannot  cure  it.  It  may  coerce  and  hold  down  the 
power  of  evil  and  punish  it  for  a  thousand  years  or  for- 
ever, but  it  cannot  destroy  it.  But  the  religion  of  love 
can  alone  regenerate  this  sinful  world  and  bring  in  the 
**  new  heaven  and  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness." 

This  truth  of  the  right  relations  of  the  law  to  the  gos- 
pel which  has  been  briefly  discussed,  has  its  important 
practical  bearings  upon  the  subject  of  Christian  preaching 
and  living.  We  sometimes  hear  it  said,  that  in  order 
effectuall}'  to  check  the  sin  there  is  in  the  world  we  must 
preach  the  law.  The  gospel  may  do  for  calm  weather, 
but    the  law    is  for  times  of  outbreaking  sin,  of  storm. 


invention:  709 

violence,  unrighteousness,  and  wrong.  In  a  period  when 
evil  comes  in  like  a  flood,  when  good  men  grow  faint, 
when  corruption  and  iniquity  abound,  when  business  in- 
tegrity and  political  honor  in  signal  instances  fail,  and 
even  the  Church  of  God  seems  to  be  sunk  in  unrighteous- 
ness and  materialism,  then  we  must  lay  aside  the  mild 
weapons  of  the  gospel  and  take  up  the  flaming  thunder- 
bolts of  the  law.  Then  Christ  must  retire  weeping  out 
of  sight,  and  Moses  must  come  down  from  Mount  Sinai 
with  the  tables  of  the  law  in  his  hands,  his  countenance 
very  terrible  to  behold,  and  utter  once  more  the  awful 
retributions  of  the  decalogue.  Then  we  must  preach  the 
strong  doctrines,  and,  above  all,  the  doctrines  and  sanc- 
tions of  the  law.  The  law  is  the  mighty  helper  and  the 
only  sure  rock  of  defence  when  iniquity  prevails.  This, 
too,  is  said  by  good  men  who  are  preachers  of  the  gos- 
pel, but  whose  gospel  thus  seems  to  break  down  just  at 
the  test-point,  and  they  are  seen,  after  all,  in  this  view 
at  least,  to  be  preachers  of  Moses  rather  than  ministers 
of  Christ.  Their  philosophy  of  the  gospel,  it  is  to  be 
feared,  does  not  grasp  its  deepest  life,  its  divinest  con- 
ception of  power  as  related  to  the  human  soul. 

If  the  gospel  be  not  found  to  be  equal  to  all  the  possi- 
ble emergencies  of  the  soul,  of  society,  and  of  the  w^orld, 
if  it  be  only  a  smooth-weather  gospel,  then  it  is  not  the 
power  to  save  the  world  from  sin  and  to  make  it  holy, 
which  it  has  been  announced  to  be,  and  we  must  substi- 
tute in  its  place  some  stronger  force,  moral  or  physical. 

The  law,  as  that  perfect  standard  of  moral  obligation 
which  comes  down  from  the  will  of  God,  is,  as  we  have 
said,  just  as  imperative  under  the  gospel  as  under  the 
law  itself.  The  standard  of  right  is  not  lowered  one 
iota  by  the  gospel  ;  for  the  seat  of  this  principle  is  in 
that  intuitive  sense  of  right  which  belongs  to  the  nature 


7IO  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

of  the  soul,  and  which  we  call  conscience  ;  and  the  gos- 
pel is  as  truly  addressed  to  man's  conscience  as  to  man's 
heart  ;  it  interprets  the  law  of  God  to  the  conscience  in  its 
most  spiritual  meaning  ;  but  Christ  does  more  than  Moses 
even  for  the  conscience. 

The  work  of  Moses  for  the  conscience,  though  glorious, 
was  mainly  negative.  It  was  minatory  and  convictive. 
The  law  sets  forth  the  prohibition  and  the  sanction.  It 
says,  "Thou  shalt  not."  It  convinces  of  unrighteous- 
ness. It  punishes  the  guilty.  But  Christ's  relations  to 
the  conscience  are  of  a  positive,  productive,  and  infinitely 
more  glorious  kind.  He  renews  the  conscience  unto  good 
works  and  a  genuine  righteousness.  He  implants  a  new 
holy  life.  He  does  not  leave  the  conscience  consuming 
under  the  fiery-thunderbolts  of  the  law  that  kill,  kill,  kill. 
He  does  not  simply  proclaim  its  punishment  for  sin.  He 
does  not  merely  condemn  its  unrighteousness,  but  he 
gives  it  true  righteousness.  "The  soul  that  sinneth  it 
shall  die" — "  the  wages  of  sin  is  death,"  are  solemn 
truths  of  the  gospel  as  well  as  of  the  law,  but  the  divine 
and  life-giving  power  of  the  gospel  is  not  in  them.  They 
are  not  that  essential  gospel  which  brings  life  and 
righteousness. 

He  who  preaches  the  law  then  as  the  grand  and  last 
resource  when  wickedness  is  rampant,  when  integrity 
fails,  when  the  very  throne  of  righteousness  and  the  king- 
dom of  God  in  the  world — the  Church — is  corrupted, 
shows  that  he  knows  not  what  the  gospel  is  and  where 
its  power  lies  ;  since  his  is  the  ministry  of  condemnation 
and  death,  just  when  it  should  be  one  of  renovation  and 
life. 

If  we  accept  the  principle  of  love — the  love  of  God  in 
Christ — as  the  great  principle  of  salvation  from  sin,  we 
will  not  give  it  up  when  sin  shows  its  most  concentrated 


INVENTION.  7  1 1 

and  terrible  might.  If  love,  as  manifest  in  Christ,  is  not 
sufficient  to  restore  the  wrongest  conscience  to  right 
action,  as  well  as  to  renew  the  affections  and  enlighten 
the  intellect,  then  we  would  look  somewhere  else  for  a 
system  which  can  save  the  whole  man  and  make  him  per- 
fect in  every  part.  We  would  build  upon  another  system 
of  righteousness  than  that  whose  working  principle  is 
Faith,  and  whose  central  power  is  Love. 

It  is  now  confessed  to  be  the  case  that  a  lamentable 
divorce  is  apparent  between  the  doctrine  and  the  life  of 
the  Church,  or,  in  other  words,  between  its  religion  and 
its  morality.  Even  a  man  so  commonly  right  in  his  judg- 
ments as  Mr.  Gladstone,  is  quoted  as  saying  that  their 
belief  has  very  little  practical  influence  over  men's  lives  ; 
and  that  religious  doctrine  itself  is  more  a  matter  of  opin- 
ion, education,  and  imagination,  than  of  real  character. 
Certainly  it  would  seem  to  be  so  in  many  instances  at  the 
present  day.  It  is  so  not  because  the  Church  is  worse 
than  it  was  in  the  primitive  ages,  but  because  the  power 
of  the  world  and  of  material  things  has  gained  a  virulence 
betokening,  it  may  be,  its  waning  strength  as  opposed  to 
the  kingdom  of  God,  or  to  things  unseen  and  spiritual. 
The  very  cases  of  business  dishonesty  and  defalcation  in 
the  Church  which  startle  communities  like  the  fall  of  a 
tower  of  a  beleaguered  city  in  the  night,  show  that  these 
things  are  deeper  felt,  that  the  conflict  is  more  earnest, 
that  sin  is  recognized  as  a  more  fearful  enemy,  that 
righteousness,  even  if  harder  pressed,  is  acknowledged  to 
be  more  precious  and  divine — the  very  city  and  dwelling 
of  God.  But  however  this  may  be,  the  phase  of  evil  now 
to  be  seen  in  the  Church  is  that  of  the  alarmin^;  lowerinfj 
of  its  moral  tone,  as  shown,  above  all,  in  its  relation  to  the 
conduct  of  those  business  affairs  which  belong  especially 
to   this  life,  and   which   it   shares  in  common   with   the 


712  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

world.  President  Woolsey  has  said  that  this  manifesta- 
tion of  evil  was  only  an  outcropping  of  that  same  spirit 
of  covetousness  against  which  Christ's  disciples  of  old 
were  warned  by  their  Master  as  the  deadly  leaven  of  the 
Pharisees.  But  how  is  this  spirit  of  unrighteousness  to 
be  met  and  overcome,  and  how  did  Christ  meet  it  when 
he  was  on  earth  ?  He  did  not  meet  it  by  saying  that 
the  law  was  done  away  by  his  coming,  and  that  the  gates 
were  thrown  open  to  all  unrighteousness  ;  on  the  contrary 
he  came  to  confirm  and  fulfill  the  law.  He  was  born 
under  the  law  and  he  died  to  sustain  it  in  its  wholeness. 
He  met  unrighteousness  not  by  yielding  to  it,  nor  even 
by  condemning  it,  but  by  creating  a  new  holy  Hfe.  He 
brought  pardon  and  hope  to  the  soul  condemned  and 
crushed  by  the  law.  He  wrought  truth  in  the  inward 
parts.  He  broke  the  chain  of  covetousness  by  offering 
to  the  worldly  mind  a  higher  object  of  love  than  worldly 
gain.  He  implanted  a  higher  faith,  that  not  only  justified 
but  made  just,  and  that  led  the  soul  out  from  its  slavery 
to  ungodly  things.  He  destroyed  the  power  of  the 
sensual  in  man's  heart  by  infusing  into  it  a  new  spirit. 
He  changed  the  hearts  of  those — whether  worldly  men 
or  professed  moralists — who  truly  believed  in  him,  and 
who  admitted  him  into  their  hearts  as  Lord,  as  the  ruling 
principle  of  their  lives  by  faith. 

Take  but  one  instance.  The  "  publicans"  of  the  New 
Testament  were  men  whose  business  it  was  to  collect  the 
Roman  revenues  from  a  subjugated  people.  They  were 
the  financial  agents  of  what  has  been  called  "  the  most 
detestable  of  all  modes  of  managing  a  revenue."  They 
were  the  custom-house  officers  of  that  day,  endowed  with 
almost  arbitrary  power  and  immunity,  and  thus  were 
tempted  constantly  by  their  position  to  exaction  and  dis- 
honesty in  money  dealings.     They  were  familiar  with  all 


INVENTION.  713 

the  tricks  of  trade,  with  the  double-dealings  and  ins  and 
outs  of  governmental  employees  whose  business  it  was  to 
fleece  the  people  in  order  to  make  themselves  rich  ;  and 
the  popular  estimate  was  not,  perhaps,  far  from  wrong 
which  invariably  linked  together  "  publicans  and  sinners," 
But  when  once,  passing  by  the  receipt  of  custom,  the 
Lord  simply  said  to  one  of  those  detested  publicans, 
"  Follow  me  !"  he  to  whom  the  Lord  thus  spoke  was 
the  evangelist  who  recorded  the  Lord's  story  of  the 
Pharisee  and  the  publican,  and  the  publican's  prayer, 
"  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner."  Following  Jesus  he 
gave  up  his  worldly  gain,  and  became  one  of  the  number 
of  the  twelve  apostles,  and  of  the  founders  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  This  was  the  secret  of  his  higher  life, 
emerging  as  it  did  from  a  low  and  it  may  be  selfish  and 
unrighteous  business  career.  This  was  the  beginning 
in  him  of  a  new  life  of  self-abnegation  and  true  righteous- 
ness. The  love  of  a  personal  Redeemer  and  Lord  took 
the  place  of  the  love  of  self  and  of  selfish  gain.  Is  there 
any  better  way  to  break  up  the  power  of  covetousness, 
of  a  deep-seated  business  immorality  in  men's  hearts, 
than  for  them  simply  to  obey  Christ's  words,  "  Follow 
me"  ?  Is  there  not  a  charm  in  Christ  which  lures  men 
away  from  all  unrighteousness  and  all  unrighteous  lusts 
and  lifts  them  above  the  world  into  a  heavenly  realm 
of  holiness,  purity,  and  love  ? 

The  way,  then,  to  righteousness  is  not  by  law  but  by 
love.  "  The  whole  secret  is  to  follow  Christ,  and  to  hold 
cheap  what  the  world  desires."  It  is  to  detach  the  soul 
from  its  old  worldly  selfishness  and  to  build  it  on  a  new 
foundation  of  righteousness,  which  is  in  Christ.  This  is 
the  old  and  the  new  way.  It  is  the  way  of  a  change  in 
the  supreme  affection  of  the  being.  It  is  the  way  of  love 
and  not  of  law. 


714  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

Should  we  not,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  ever  preach  the 
holy  law  in  order  to  make  men  righteous  ?  We  should 
preach  the  law,  and  we  should  preach  the  law  as  a  prepa- 
ration for  and  a  part  of  the  gospel.  We  should  preach  it 
as  Christ  teaches  us  to  preach  it,  not  as  "it  was  said 
by  them  of  old  time,"  but  as  "I  say  unto  you."  He 
who  does  this  is  honored  of  Christ.  "  Whosoever  shall 
do  and  teach  them,  the  same  shall  be  called  great  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  For  I  say  unto  you,  that  except 
your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  We  should  preach  the  law  in 
the  light  of  the  New  Testament,  intelligently,  posi- 
tively, as  a  means  to  a  higher  end,  not  exclusively  as 
a  system  of  condemnation,  of  terror,  of  warning  even, 
but  in  its  true  relations  to  the  mind  and  to  Christ's 
work  in  and  for  the  mind  ;  in  order  to  show  men  how 
the  law  may  be  disobeyed  and  how  sin  may  arise,  or 
what  sin  really  is,  thus  making  the  law  a  schoolmaster 
to  lead  men  to  Christ.  In  this  way  the  apostle  Paul 
preached  the  law.  If  it  do  not  lead  to  Christ  and  to  a 
better  righteousness  in  him,  he  seemed  almost  to  scorn 
the  law  and  its  works.  The  righteousness  of  Christians 
raMsX.  exceed 'Ca^  righteousness  of  the  legalists.  It  must 
have  in  it  a  living  element  of  divine  love  and  obedience 
which  the  law  never  could  imparf. 

Here,  then,  is  the  place  of  the  law  under  the  gospel,  that 
by  it  men  may  see  clearly  what  their  duty  is  and  how  far 
they  have  departed  from  the  perfect  standard,  or  from 
that  sense  of  innate  righteousness,  that  eternal  law  of 
God,  which  is  written  on  the  conscience.  Thus  the  law 
brings  the  knowledge  of  sin.  Thus  appealing  to  men's 
own  reasons  and  consciences,  the  terrible  sanctions  of  the 
law  have  their  effect.     Men  see  that  these  sanctions  are 


INVENTION.  7«5 

right.  Ill  this  way  the  law  condemns  them.  In  this  way 
wc  may  hope,  as  preachers,  to  convict  of  sin  and  to 
awaken  repentance  which  springs  from  a  clear  view  of  the 
righteousness  of  the  law.  Otherwise  you  may  tell  men 
they  are  sinners  and  they  will  assent  and  sin  on.  Other- 
wise you  may  appeal  to  the  fears  and  passions  of  men  in 
vain.  Otherwise  you  may  preach  hell-fire  till  doom 
sounds  and  it  will  not  persuade  men  to  repent.  And  in 
no  case  will  the  simple  preaching  of  the  law,  without 
Christ,  produce  righteousness.  The  death-dealing  ter- 
rors of  the  Lord  are,  under  the  gospel,  to  be  proclaim- 
ed in  order  to  "persuade  men"  to  look  to  something 
higher,  better,  and  really  life-giving,  to  Him  who  is  "  the 
life." 

But  there  are  Christians,  you  say,  who  are  clearly  con- 
victed of  acts  of  deliberate  dishonesty,  who  for  the  sake 
"  of  filthy  lucre"  have  defrauded  their  neighbors,  and 
have  swindled  the  whole  community  right  and  left  with 
their  eyes  open.  It  can  only  be  answered  that  whenever 
such  cases  of  cool  and  deliberate  business  dishonesty 
have  occurred  in  the  membership  of  the  Christian  Church, 
they  have  been  cases,  in  all  probability,  of  those  who 
have  not  as  yet  really  felt  the  renewing  power  of  the  gos- 
pel upon  their  hearts  and  lives.  They  have  been  men 
who,  like  Judas  Iscariot,  may  at  the  first,  perhaps,  have 
experienced  some  superficial  feeling  of  sympathy  drawing 
them  toward  Christ,  but  they  have  never  really  loved 
him  ;  they  have  never  yielded  themselves  wholly  to  him, 
and  the  root  of  selfishness  has  never  been  cut  up  in  their 
hearts.  They,  therefore,  do  not  prove  the  powerlessness 
of  the  gospel  to  prevent  men  from  being  knaves,  since 
they  have  never  themselves  felt  its  true  power.  For  as 
sinful  men  in  all  ages  have  been  rescued  from  the  power 
of  all  forms  of  sin  by  the  gospel,  so  the  gospel  is  power- 


7i6  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

ful  to  rescue  men  from  dishonesty,  and  to  sow  in  their 
hearts  true  righteousness. 

We  would  say,  therefore,  emphatically,  let  the  old 
gospel  be  preached  in  its  pristine  simplicity,  purity,  and 
power.  Yes,  the  old  gospel  of  Love.  Let  us  have 
no  more  slighting  remarks  about  the  religion  of  Love  as 
weaker  than  the  religion  of  Law.  The  religion  of  Love 
is  stronger  for  genuine  righteousness  than  the  religion  of 
Law.  The  religion  of  Law  was  that  of  the  First  Dispen- 
sation, which,  though  glorious,  was  one  of  condemnation 
and  death.  The  religion  of  Love  is  that  of  the  New  Dis- 
pensation, which  is  one  of  eternal  life  in  Jesus  Christ  the 
Righteous.  It  is  surely  time  that  the  foolish  talk  about 
Love  (such  Christian  love  as  is  presented  to  us  by  Paul 
and  John  in  the  New  Testament)  being  "  sentimental- 
ism,"  or  something  that  is  too  weak  to  make  right- 
eous men,  should  cease.  Those  who  talk  and  write  in 
this  manner  (especially  if  they  be  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament)  show  conclusively  that  they  do  not  thoroughly 
comprehend  the  gospel  as  the  strongest  power  in  the 
universe,  as  the  manifestation  of  the  love  of  God  in  Christ 
to  save  men  from  sin,  from  all  sin,  from  all  kinds  of  sin, 
and  from  one  of  the  deepest  kinds  of  sin— covetousness 
— which  is  especially  the  sin  of  church-members  as  it  was 
of  the  Pharisees  of  old  time  :  because  it  is  a  system  which 
denies  the  power  of  things  supernatural  and  invisible,  and 
yields  perhaps  without  the  seeming  transgression  of  a 
single  outward  command  of  the  law,  to  the  power  of  the 
selfish  and  sensual  in  the  world.  Covetousness  is  really 
one  of  the  profoundest  forms  of  unbelief. 

The  religion  of  love,  then,  as  was  said  at  the  beginning, 
can  alone  bring  in  "  the  new  heaven  and  new  earth 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."  Faith  that  works  by 
love  and  purifies  the  soul,  is  the  life  of  a  righteous  man 


INVENTION.  7  I  7 

and  of  a  righteous  church.  Faith  and  good  works  %o 
ever  together.  They  should  be  preached  as  one  and  in- 
separable under  any  true  system  of  Christianity.  Good 
works  are  linked  to  faith  as  the  body  to  the  soul.  As 
the  soul  shapes  the  very  form  and  features,  so  faith  shapes 
the  character.  Loving  Christ  men  become  like  Christ. 
Loving  what  is  pure  men  grow  pure.  Loving  what  is 
above  the  world  men  grow  unworldly  and  unselfish.  Of 
course  this  should  not  be  a  blind  and  ignorant  love. 
There  should  be  definite  instruction  in  godliness  ;  and 
here  is  seen  another  positive  use  of  the  law 

under  the    gospel,   that    it    may   become  a      Positive 
...  ...  ,.  ,  instruction 

positively  educational    instrumentality,   fur-    .^^  o-odliness 

nishing  the  standard  of  right,  correcting  and  morality, 
and  rectifying  the  life.  The  apostles  and 
primitive  preachers  of  the  gospel  were  careful  to  give  such 
discriminating  instruction  in  righteousness  and  all  holy 
living.  The  conscience  even  of  believers  needs  to  be 
thoroughly  enlightened,  disciplined,  and  educated.  The 
gospel  has  a  moral  as  well  as  a  spiritual  side,  though  under 
its  system  "  morals  are  never  separated  from  spirituals," 
We  think  indeed  that  there  should  be  far  more  of  ethical 
preaching  than  there  is,  more  of  the  principle  of  Chris- 
tian love  as  law  applied  to  life,  and  to  all  good  works, 
varying  in  its  application  to  different  ages,  circumstances, 
peoples,  temptations,  wants,  emergencies,  but  ever  one 
spirit.  Building  up  character  in  the  most  holy  faith,  is 
one  of  the  duties  of  the  Christian  Church  and  of  the 
Christian  preacher.  But  for  ourselves  we  are  entirely 
satisfied  with  the  old  gospel  of  John,  and  of  James,  and 
of  Matthew,  and  of  Peter,  and  of  Paul — the  gospel  of  love 
— to  make  men  righteous.  We  see  in  it  the  power  of 
God  to  uproot  and  destroy  all  unrighteousness  and  to 
build  up  true  honor,  and  integrity,  and  holiness,  in  men's 


7l8  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

hearts,  whether  they  be  money-changers,  bank-directors, 
rich  men,  poor  men,  farmers,  soldiers,  sailors,  scholars, 
or  whatever  they  may  be.  We  do  not  desire  to  substi- 
tute in  the  place  of  the  gospel,  which  is  divine  love  re- 
deeming and  perfecting  the  soul  into  the  image  of  Christ, 
either  the  legal  system  of  the  ancient  Jewish  Church, 
grand  as  it  was  in  its  day,  or  the  casuistical  system  of 
the  modern  Roman  Catholic  Church,  astute  and  saintly 
as  have  been  many  of  its  teachers.  He  who  follows  the 
"  light  that  lighteth  every  man"  will  not  go  astray.  He 
who  loves  righteousness  as  impersonated  in  Christ  need 
not  be  taught  in  all  the  "  ways  that  are  dark"  in  order  to 
shun  the  path  of  the  sinner. 

*•  Virtue  could  see  to  do  what  virtue  would 

By  her  own  radiant  light,  though  sun  and  moon 
Were  in  the  flat  sea  sunk." 

(3.)  Christian  experience.  We  need  not  dwell  upon 
this.  Here  is  an  opportunity  for  meditative  and  richly 
subjective  preaching.  One  may  follow  here 
the  windings  of  the  water  of  the  river  of  life, 
that  hidden  life  of  God  in  an  individual  ex- 
perience of  divine  truth,  which,  taken  out  of  the  revealed 
word,  forms  the  present,  working,  transforming  power 
of  the  life  of  Christ  in  the  soul  of  each  believer. 

Need  there  be  any  lack  of  subject-matter  in  such  a 
wide  field  as  that  which  has  been  glanced  over  ?  Need 
invention  pause  for  a  moment  in  discovering  new,  inspir- 
ing, and  exhaustless  themes  for  the  pulpit  ? 

In  what  has  been  said  of  invention,  we  have  en- 
deavored to  show  that  while  the  vagaries,  unlicensed 
luxuriance,  and  unbounded  secularization  of  pulpit 
themes  and  of  preaching  should  be  much  restricted,  yet 
that  the  field   of  preaching  might   really  be  greatly  en- 


Christian 
experience. 


IJVVENTWN. 


719 


larged,  and  rendered  at  the  same  time  more  profound  and 
effective.  It  would  be  both  more  human  and  more 
divine.  It  would  be  more  truly  Christian  preaching- 
springing  from  the  divine  word,  and  saturated  with  the 
new  spirit  of  Christ— not  merely  moral,  scientific,  philo- 
sophical, or  sentimental.  All  life,  all  nature,  all  human 
relations,  would  be  thrown  open  to  the  transforming 
power  of  Christ  ;  the  pulpit  would  be  unbound,  and  re- 
sponsible for  its  utterances  to  God  alone  ;  yet  it  would 
be  devoted  simply  to  the  divine  will,  and  to  the  glory  of 
God  in  the  saving  of  souls. 

Rhetorically  speaking,  invention,  more  than  anything 
else,  shows  the    true    artist  ;    thus,    rhetorically  viewed, 
invention    shows   the   true   orator.      Cicero 
makes  much  of  invention  in  his  De  Oratore,       Cicero's 

and,  highly  as  he  regards  the  importance  of      7'®^°^ 
,    ,       ,      ^,  .    ,         ,  ,  ^  invention 

style,  he  thmks  that  what  an  orator  has  to    in  rhetoric. 

say,  or  the  methodized  subject-matter  of  dis- 
course, is  of  far  more  importance.  He  divides  oratory 
into  five  parts:  "To  invent  what  you  have  to  say,  to 
arrange  what  you  have  invented,  to  clothe  it  in  proper 
language,  then  to  commit  it  to  memory,  and  at  last  to 
deliver  it  with  due  action  and  elocution."'  If  Cicero 
placed  invention  first,  in  regard  to  the  mere  orator,  how 
much  more  important  is  it  to  the  preacher  of  divine  truth. 

'  "  De  Oratore,"  B.  ii.  c.  xix. 


THIRD    DIVISION. 

STYLE. 

Sec.   31.  Definitioji  of  Style. 

"  Style"  is  a  complex  term,  and,  therefore,  definitions 

of  style  differ,  and  some  of  them  are  quite  incomplete  ; 

for  example,  Webster's  definition,  that  style 
Definition.     ....  ,         .  .  .  ,  , 

IS       the  manner  of   writmg  with   regard  to 

language,  or  the  choice  and  arrangement  of  words." 
This,  however,  it  must  be  said,  coincides  with  the  ancient 
idea  of  style,  which  had  main  reference  to  "  the  proper 
selection  and  arrangement  of  words."  Webster's  defini- 
tion, founded  upon  this  ancient  one,  comprehends  sim- 
ply what  we  mean  by  "  diction." 

Rhetoric  comprehends  the  subject  of  style,  as  being 
itself  the  more  generic  of  the  two  terms  ;  since  rhetoric 
furnishes  the  scientific  standard  of  criticism  that  regulates 
all  the  facts  and  phenomena  of  style.  As  invention  re- 
gards the  material,  so  style  regards  the  expression  of 
that  spoken  or  written  language,  of  which,  combined  in 
the  form  of  a  continuous  discourse,  rhetoric  takes  cog- 
nizance. 

Professor  H.  N.  Day's  definition  of  style  is  "  That 
part  of  rhetoric  whiclj  treats  of  the  expression  of  thought 
in  language.  Style  is  thought  formulated  in  expression. 
Expression,  in  fine,  has  no  meaning  or  significance  unless 
it  be  the  expression  of  thought,  or  for  the  definite  pur- 


I 


STYLE.  721 

pose  of  propagating  thought."  Here  the  important  ele- 
ment of  "  thought"  is  added  to  that  of  "  language"  or 
"  diction." 

But  thought  is  the  very  essence  and  spirit  of  the  man 
who  originates  and  utters  it.  It  is  shaped  and  colored 
by  the  characters  of  its  source — the  personality  from 
which  it  flows.  Therefore  Vinet  goes  further  still,  he 
says  "  Diction  is  not  the  whole  man,  while  the  whole 
man  is  the  style  ;"  or,  in  the  familiar  phrase  of  Buffon, 
"  The  style  is  the  man." 

Evidently,  then,  style  is  not  merely  the  language,  nor 
is  it  merely  the  verbal  expression  of  thought,  but  it  is  the 
expression  of  the  thinking  man  through  language.  We 
would  therefore  prefer  the  following,  as,  perhaps,  a  more 
general  and  at  the  same  time  correct  definition  :  Style  is 
the  expression  in  language  of  the  thought,  qualities,  and 
spirit  of  the  man  who  is  discoursing. 

From  this  it  would  follow  that  a  man  who  does  not 
express  himself — his  individual  thought  and  character — 
in  his  language,  has  no  "  style,"  properly  speaking  ;  for 
it  is  not  every  piece  of  composition  that  has  a  "  style," 
any  more  than  ever)^  building  ;  and  owing  to  this  fact, 
style,  logically  viewed,  is  sometimes  defined  as  "the 
differential  in  expression  ;"  that  is  to  say  the  recurrence 
of  certain  forms  of  thought  and  expression  springing  from 
the  psychological  characteristics  of  the  individual,  and 
forming  a  more  or  less  marked  totality  of  expression,  is 
what  we  mean  by  a  man's  style.  It  is  his  own,  while  at 
the  same  time  as  a  writer  and  speaker  he  has  much  in 
common  with  all  other  writers  and  speakers  ;  and  here  is 
laid  the  possibility  of  a  science  of  style,  that  while  it  has 
rhetorical  unity  as  an  art  it  nevertheless  deserves  to  be 
called  style  because  of  these  differentia  that  express  per- 
sonal force,  sensibility,  and  character. 


722  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

It  may  be  seen  from  this  that  style  is  a  personal  thing 
belonging  very  much  to  character.  If  a  man  would  im- 
prove his  style  he  should  improve  himself.  If  he  would 
ennoble  his  manner  of  writing  and  speaking,  he  must 
beautify  and  deepen  his  own  mind  so  that  its  expression 
will  be  inevitably  noble. 

Style  is  sometimes  disparaged,  and  all  effort  to  improve 
it  is  scouted.  It  is  true  that  style  (from  the  very  defini- 
tion we  have  given)  cannot  be  wholly  acquired,  but  the 
best  part  of  it  is  something  unconscious  and  innate.  Yet 
rhetorical  training  may  serve  to  repress  faults  and  to  de- 
velop and  improve  style.  It  is  a  common  remark  that 
few  persons  can  be  found  who  speak  and  write  equally 
well,  yet  the  two  are  not  incompatible,  and  the  one  ought 
to  aid  the  other.  It  certainly  is  true  that  to  write  clearly 
assists  one  to  think  clearly,  since  the  effort  to  express 
one's  self  in  the  best  way  is  itself  a  noble  mental  discipline. 
Cicero  says  that  "  writing  is  the  most  excellent  modeller 
and  teacher  of  oratory."  Hugh  Miller  made  his  own 
style  by  hard  labor  and  by  constant  writing  after  the 
model  of  the  best  English  authors,  and  his  style  was 
one  of  uncommon  beauty.  This  was  also  the  case  to 
some  limited  extent  with  Daniel  Webster's  style  ;  and  it 
was  in  some  sense  the  same  with  the  historian  William 
Prescott,  from  whom  we  will  quote  a  passage  on  this  very 
point  :  "  The  best,  undoubtedly,  for  every  writer,  is  the 
form  of  expression  best  suited  to  his  peculiar  turn  of 
thinking,  even  at  some  hazard  of  violating  the  conven- 
tional tone  of  the  most  chaste  and  careful  writers.  It  is 
this  alone  which  can  give  full  force  to  his  thoughts. 
Franklin's  style  would  have  borne  more  ornament — Wash- 
ington Irving  could  have  done  with  less — Johnson  and 
Gibbon  might  have  had  much  less  formality,  and  Hume 
and  Goldsmith  could  have  occasionally  pointed  their  sen- 


STYLE.  723 

tences  with  more  effect.  But,  if  they  had  abandoned 
the  natural  suggestions  of  their  genius,  and  aimed  at  the 
contrary,  would  they  not,  in  mending  a  hole,  as  Scott 
says,  have  very  likely  made  two  ?  There  are  certain 
faults  which  no  writer  must  commit  ;  false  metaphors  ; 
solecisms  of  grammar  ;  unmeaning  and  tautological  ex- 
pressions ;  for  these  contravene  the  fundamental  laws  of 
all  writing,  the  object  of  which  must  be  to  express  one's 
ideas  clearly  and  correctly.  But,  notwithstanding  these 
limits,  the  widest  latitude  should  be  allowed  to  taste  and 
to  the  power  of  unfolding  the  thoughts  of  the  writer  in 
all  their  vividness  and  originality.  Originality  —  the 
originality  of  nature — compensates  for  a  thousand  minor 
blemishes.  Of  one  thing  a  writer  may  be  sure,  if  he 
adopts  a  manner  foreign  to  his  mind  he  will  never  please. 
Johnson  says,  '  Whoever  would  write  a  good  style  must 
devote  his  days  and  nights  to  the  study  of  Addison.' 
Had  he  done  so,  or  had  Addison  formed  his  style  on 
Johnson's,  what  a  ridiculous  figure  each  would  have  cut  ! 
One  man's  style  will  no  more  fit  another  than  one  man's 
coat,  or  hat,  or  shoes,  will  fit  another.  They  will  be  sure 
to  be  too  big,  or  too  small,  or  too  something,  that  will 
make  the  wearer  of  them  ill  at  ease,  and  probably  ridicu- 
lous."  ' 

We  see  by  this  how  much  Prescott  thought  of  that 
style  which  was  individual,  or  the  expression  of  the  man 
himself  ;  he  held  the  great  essential  of  a  good  style  to  be 
that  it  should  be  natural,  or  one's  own  ;  and  yet,  not- 
withstanding all  this,  we  know  what  careful  study,  what 
unwearied  pains,  he  himself  took  to  obtain  a  good  style. 
He  devoted  himself  to  this  one  thing  for  a  considerable 
period  of  time,  and  did  nothing  else.     After  he  had  once 


Ticknor's  "  Life  of  Prescott." 


724  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

obtained  it  then  he  wrote  with  a  free  hand.  He  said  :  "I 
will  write  calamo  currcntc,  and  not  weigh  out  my  words 
like  gold  dust  ;"  and  again  :  "Be  not  fastidious,  espe- 
cially about  phraseology.  Do  not  work  for  too  much 
euphony.  It  is  lost  in  the  mass.  Do  not  elaborate  and 
potter  over  the  style.  Think  more  of  general  effect  ;" 
and  still  again  he  says,  "  One  more  conclusion  is,  that  I 
will  not  hereafter  vex  myself  with  anxious  thoughts  about 
my  style,  having  done  what  I  could  to  arrive  at  a  good 
style."  But  he  Jiad  made  the  necessary  effort  to  arrive  at 
a  good  style. 

Style,  according  to  the   definition   given,  is  composed 

of  two  elements  :    first,    of    something    independent    of 

the  man  himself,  and  common  to  all  men, 

ompose       viz.,  language  ;  and,  secondly,  of  something 
of  two 
elements      which  depends    upon  the  man  himself,  and 

his  relations  to  those  things  which  influence 
his  style  ;  in  other  words,  there  are  certain  properties  of 
style  which  are  essential,  and  which  chiefly  relate  to  lan- 
guage ;  and  there  are  other  properties  which  are  origi- 
nated, or,  at  least,  colored,  by  the  individual  thought  and 
mind  of  the  writer,  and  by  all  his  relations  to  other  minds 
whom  he  addresses.  These  have  been  called  the  absolute 
and  the  relative  properties  of  style. 

Sec.   32.  Absolute  properties  of  Style. 

These  are  properties  which  enter,  and  must  enter,  into 
all  good  writing  and  speaking — into  all  true  style  ;  and 
surely  here  one  may  profitably  spend  as  much  study  as 
he  can  find  time  and  opportunity  to  spend.  He  can 
always  be  perfecting  himself  in  this  respect.  This  part 
of  style  is  an  art  to  be  acquired,  like  any  other  art  ;  for 
it  relates  more  to  the  external  and  mechanical  dexterity 
of  the  writer  or  speaker  than   to  his  inward  thought  and 


STYLE.  725 

genius,  which  is  created  rather  than  acquired  ;  and  yet 
even  this  more  external  character  of  style  also  depends 
largely  upon  the  natural  capacities  and  fitness  of  the 
mind.  This  part  of  style  may  all  be  comprised  under  the 
single  idea  of  language. 

Let  us,  then,  consider  language  in  relation  to  a  dis- 
course, or,  according  to  our  original  definition  of  rhetoric, 
in  relation  to  the  spoken  address. 

We  have  already  remarked  upon  the  general  theme  of 
the  Study  of  Language  ;  we  would  now  look  at  language 
more  especially  in  its  relations  to  the  best  style  of  public 
discourse — in  a  word,  of  preaching. 

This  theme  can  be  divided  into  the  oral  and  the  gram- 
matical properties  of  language. 

I.   Oral  properties  of  language. 

All  language  is  originally  intended  to  be  spoken  ;  it  is, 
properly,  speech.      Even  if  written,  and  not 
spoken,   the   right    principles    of   articulate   Oral  proper- 
sound  must  be  preserved,  and  must  still  con-     , 

^  language. 

tinue  to  govern   it  ;  for  speech  is  the  ulti- 
mate   test  of  language,  and    it    cannot  possibly  be    the 
best  language  unless  the  judgment  of  the  ear  is  satis- 
fied.    A  sentence  which    is    not   fitted    to    be  read    or 
spoken  aloud  is  not  really  good  language. 

The  oral  properties  of  language  are  commonly  divided 
into  euphony  and  harmony. 

(i.)  Euphony.  Euphony,  in  its  relation  to  style,  has 
regard  solely  to  the  effect  of  sound  upon  the  ear,  or, 
more  definitely,  of  the  sound  of  words  upon 
the  ear.  It  applies  chiefly,  though  not  alto-  "^  °°^" 
gether,  to  single  words.  Euphony,  according  to  Vinet, 
is  "  the  combination  of  agreeable,  and  the  exclusion  of 
disagreeable,  sounds  in  language." 

Euphony  may  be  preserved — 


726  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

{a.)  By  avoiding  words  and  sentences  which  cause  harsh 

sounds.       These   are   generally   learned    and    compound 

words  hard  to  be  pronounced,  and  mostly  of 

Eup  ony,  L^tin,  Greek,  German,  and  foreign  origin. 
.  Dr.  Chalmers'  writings  contain  many  such 
words.  His  phrases  and  sentences  are  often 
difficult  to  be  read  aloud,  and  harsh  to  the  ear,  because 
they  bring  so  many  consonants  closely  together  ;  these 
are  all  striving  for  utterance  at  once  ;  the  organs  of 
speech  labor  to  do  their  part,  and  this  labor  destroys 
the  smoothness  and  pleasantness  of  the  sounds  they 
produce.  One  should  seek,  as  a  general  rule  of  eu- 
phony, for  short,  radical,  easily-spoken  words,  although 
many  longer  Latin  words,  and  those  derived  from  the 
Italian  and  French,  are  exceedingly  euphonious.  A 
familiar  example  of  difficult  combinations  in  a  sentence 
from  Scripture  is  the  following  :  "  After  the  most  strait- 
est  sect  of  our  religion  I  lived  a  Pharisee." 

{b.)  By  avoiding  words  and  sentences  which  contain  a 
succession  of  unaccented  syllables  ;  such  words,  for  ex- 
ample, as  "meteorological,"  "  desultoriness. "  Our  lan- 
guage somewhat  lacks  in  euphony  by  throwing  the  accent 
of  some  words  on  the  first  syllable  instead  of  on  the  pe- 
nultimate— in  such  words  as  "miserable,"  "interest- 
ing." 

{c.)  By  avoiding  long  sentences  in  which  many  new 
and  varied  ideas  are  introduced.  The  sound  will  be  dis- 
agreeably affected  by  this  ;  for  while  the  mind  is  em- 
ployed in  taking  in  the  whole  meaning  of  every  part  of 
the  sentence,  the  voice  strains  and  struggles  along  after 
it,  and  thus  necessarily  grows  harsh.  One  should  always 
give  himself  time  to  breathe  ;  the  country  and  the  world 
may  be  perishing,  but  the  orator,  in  order  to  continue 
to  speak  with   effect,  must  take  breath.     Periods,  there- 


STYLE.  727 

fore,  should  not  be  too  far  apart,  Wc  would  not  con- 
demn long  sentences.  If  well  balanced  and  well  com- 
posed, they  add  greatly  to  the  solidity  of  a  composition  ; 
but  in  relation  to  euphony  of  style,  of  which  we  now 
especially  speak,  if  the  sentence  is  long,  it  should  be  care- 
fully adapted  for  speaking,  clearly  divided  and  skillfully 
arranged,  so  as  not  to  embarrass  articulation  in  the  de- 
livery. 

(2.)  Harmony.  Harmony  goes  farther  than  euphony, 
and  has  regard  to   sound   in   its  relation  to  thought.      It 

is   not    merely   phonetic  ;  it    is    not  merely 
1  1        •  r  1  11  1  Harmony, 

the  production  ot  a  sound  agreeable  to  the 

ear,  or  the  avoidance  of  a  harsh  and  disagreeable  sound  ; 
but  it  has  to  do  with  the  rhythmic  flow  of  thought, 
and  is  something  more  deeply  emotional  and  mental. 
Original  thought  usually  creates  harmony.  It  does  so 
because  it  seeks  for  unity  of  expression.  It  arouse? 
that  feeling  which  makes  the  soul  and  its  powers  chord 
together  in  one  note,  and  is  the  true  source  of  hannon}-. 
Perhaps  we  should  have  said,  instead  of  original  thought, 
a  true  feeling  of  the  soul,  one  that  is  deeper  even  than 
thought,  or  that  is  the  spring  of  thought  :  this  pro- 
duces harmony  of  language.  The  words  of  Ruth  to 
Naomi  are  an  harmonious  expression  of  the  profoundest 
feeling  :  "  And  Ruth  said.  Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee, 
or  to  return  from  following  after  thee  ;  for  whither  thou 
goest  I  will  go,  and  where  thou  lodgest  I  will  lodge  ; 
thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God. 
Where  thou  diest  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried. 
The  Lord  do  so  to  me,  and  more  also,  if  aught  but 
death  part  thee  and  me." 

Now,  what  is  harmony  but  a  real  concord  or  agreement 
of  parts  ?  And  here  is  a  bringing  of  the  soul  of  Ruth,  by 
a  deep  purpose  of  feeling,  into  agreement  with  the  soul 


728  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

of  Naomi  ;  there  is  true  harmony  between  them.  It  is 
noticeable  how,  through  the  whole  passage,  the  "thee" 
and  "  me"  are  continually  brought  into  one.  It  was  a 
perfect  surrender  of  the  soul,  having  nothing  left  in  it  of 
unsubdued,  incongruous,  or  rebellious  feeling  ;  and  this 
inward  action  of  the  soul  uttered  itself  in  harmonious 
language,  like  an  accord  of  music.  Harmony  of  soul 
thus  makes  harmony  of  style,  as  the  expression  of  devo- 
tional feeling,  which  is  the  chording  of  the  human  with 
the  divine  soul,  and  with  the  soul  of  all  that  is  divine  in 
the  universe.  Harmony  of  style  aids  the  expression  of 
thought.  It  flows  forth  with  a  rhythmical  flow.  It  is  a 
subtile  but  deep  grace  of  style,  of  which  the  Scriptures 
are  full  ;  as,  for  example,  the  one  hundred  and  third,  and 
one  hundred  and  seventh  Psalms,  our  Lord's  invitation  to 
the  weary,  and  the  last  chapter  of  the  book  of  Revela- 
tion, and  many  other  passages  of  profound  and  majestic 
harmony. 

Prose,  it  is  true,  cannot  be  sung,  like  poetry,  in  num- 
bers, but  it  may,  equally  with  poetry,  have  something  of 
this  rhythmic  character,  this  harmonious  flow,  which  does 
not  arise  so  much  from  single  words  as  from  a  succession 
of  words,  or  from  a  sufficient  number  to  express  the 
thought. 

We  quote  upon  this  subject  a  few  sentences  from 
Cicero  :  "  Nor  is  there  a  single  quality,  out  of  many, 
that  more  distinguishes  a  true  orator  from  an  unskillful 
and  ignorant  speaker  than  that  he  who  is  unpractised 
pours  forth  all  he  can,  without  discrimination,  and  meas- 
ures out  the  periods  of  his  speech,  not  with  art,  but  by 
the  power  of  his  breath  ;  but  the  orator  clothes  his 
thoughts  in  such  a  manner  as  to  comprise  them  in  a  flow 
of  numbers,  at  once  confined  to  measure,  yet  free  from 
restraint  ;  for,  after  restricting  it  to  proper  modulation 


STYLE.  729 

and  structure,  he  gives  it  an  ease  and  freedom  by  a 
variety  in  the  flow,  so  that  the  words  are  neither  bound 
by  strict  laws,  as  those  of  verse,  nor  yet  have  such  a  de- 
gree of  liberty  as  to  wander  without  control.  There  is 
nothing  so  pliant,  nothing  so  flexible,  nothing  which  will 
so  easily  follow  whithersoever  you  incline  to  lead  it,  as 
language;  according,  therefore,  as  we  ourselves  are  grave, 
or  subtile,  or  hold  a  middle  course  between  both,  so  the 
form  of  our  language  follows  the  nature  of  our  thoughts, 
and  is  changed  and  varied  to  suit  every  method  by  which 
we  delight  the  ear  or  move  the  passions  of  mankind."  ' 

These  words  of  Cicero  show  the  close  study  and  atten- 
tion which  the  ancients  gave  to  this  department  of  ora- 
tory ;  they  thought  that  there  was  in  prose  a  harmony  of 
numbers  almost  like  that  in  poetry;  that  "the  musical 
management  of  the  voice  and  the  harmonious  structure 
of  words  should  be  transferred,  as  far  as  the  strictness  of 
prose  would  admit,  from  poetry  to  oratory." 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  ancients  were  far  more 
exquisite  observers  than  the  moderns  of  the  finer  powers 
and  application  of  art,  which  is,  in  fact,  but  a  deeper 
nature. 

This  idea  of  harmony  of  style  should  not,  however,  be 
suffered  to  degenerate  into  an  attempt  at  making  music, 
or  musical  sentences.  Cicero  evidently  aimed  at  this, 
sacrificing  even  strength  to  attain  it.  Too  much  atten- 
tion to  harmony  undoubtedly  tends  to  enervate  style, 
and  this  is  a  serious  temptation  to  those  who  have  a  great 
native  perception  of  harmony.  Such  persons  should  even 
avoid,  in  some  cases,  rather  than  cultivate  this  quality. 
Especially  the  direct  aim  at  rhythmical  writing  or  speak- 
ing in  a  sermon  would  be  intolerable. 


'  "  De  Oratore,"  B.  iii.  s.  xliv, 


73°  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACIIIXG. 

Yet  harmony  of  style  may  coexist  with  strength  and 
energy.  Perhaps  there  is  no  writer  in  whose  prose  style 
will  be  found  more  varied  and  majestic  harmonies  which 
flow  from  the  thought  even  more  than  from  the  words, 
than  Milton  ;  and  certainly  there  is  no  stronger,  more 
masculine  writer.  This  too  may  be  also  said  of  Lord 
Bacon's  style,  of  Edmund  Burke's,  and  that  of  Robert 
Hall. 

In  regard  to  preaching,  there  is  often  a  rhythmical 
movement  in  the  sermon,  springing  chiefly  from  the 
thought,  which  is  both  pleasing  and  powerful,  and  carries 
on  the  mind  of  the  hearer  by  a  strong,  resistless  flow. 
Care  in  little  things,  choice  of  words,  arrangement  of  sen- 
tences, smoothing  of  transitions,  attention  to  accents, 
lengthening  or  abbreviating  phrases,  may,  indeed,  aid  in 
harmony  ;  ^t  still,  true  harmony  in  style  comes  usually, 
as  we  have  said,  from  deeper  sources. 

2.   Grammatical  properties  of  language. 

This  is  what  De  Ouincey  calls  the  "  mechanology  of 
style."      If  one  great  end  of  education — cer- 

,  tainly  of  classical  education — is  to  speak  and 
properties  of        .  ^ 

languag-e  write  well,  to  speak  and  write  our  own  lan- 
guage with  purity,  we  should  make  ourselves 
accurately  acquainted  with  the  grammar  of  our  own  lan- 
guage ;  for  many  of  the  worst  faults  of  style  arise  from 
grammatical  incorrectness.  Quintilian  declares  that  the 
orator  should  by  no  means  look  down  on  the  elements  of 
grammar  as  a  small  matter,  for  unless  a  good  founda- 
tion in  oratory  is  laid  in  grammar,  the  superstructure  will 
surely  fall. '  ' '  Was  Cicero, ' '  he  says,  ' '  the  less  of  an  orator 
because,  as  appears  from  his  letters,  he  was  a  rigid  ex- 
acter,  on  all  occasions,  of  correct  language?" 

'  "  Instilut.,"  B.  i.  c.  4. 


STYLE.  731 

111  the  "  Life  of  Prescott,"  the  historian,  we  read,  that 
when  he  was  a  young  man,  he  made,  once  for  all,  the 
English  grammar  his  particular  study,  and  gave  his  whole 
time  and  energy  to  it  ;  and  this  may,  in  part,  account  for 
the  purity  of  his  style,  which  Hallam  declared  to  be 
perfect.  For  the  preacher,  idiomatic  English  (by  this  is 
'meant  a  mode  of  speaking  or  writing  "  foreign  from  the 
usages  of  universal  grammar  and  the  general  laws  of  lan- 
guage" and  restricted  to  the  genius  of  the  English 
tongue,  or  expressing  its  genius,  honesty,  and  character), 
is  a  greater  conquest  than  the  knowledge  of  Greek  or 
German.  This  may  be  seen  in  so  powerful  a  preacher  as 
John  Bunyan.  Richard  Grant  White,  indeed,  with  some 
show  of  reason,  calls  the  English  "  the  grammarless 
tongue,"  as  being  a  language  almost  without  etymology 
and  syntax,  which  are  the  two  great  component  elements 
of  grammar,  and  as  therefore  "  untrammelled  by  gram- 
matical rules  and  subject  only  to  the  laws  of  reason  ;" 
but  still,  though  much  less  the  subject  of  rigid  structural 
form  than  are  other  more  highly  inflected  languages  like 
the  Greek  and  Latin,  it  is  absurd  to  say  that  the  English 
language  has  no  grammar.  Its  grammar  is  not  indeed  the 
Latin  grammar.  There  are  no  such  inflexible  laws  of 
government  or  agreement  in  the  English  language  as  pre- 
vail in  the  Latin  ;  but  there  is  nevertheless  a  positive 
grammatical  standard  to  the  English  language,  though  it 
is  more  free,  varied,  and  subtle.  The  English  language 
has  all  the  parts  and  all  the  elements  of  a  perfect  lan- 
guage, and  these  parts  are  more  or  less  absolutely  related 
to  each  other  ;  and  thus  they  carry  along  with  them  the 
necessity  of  certain  forms  of  grammatical  construction, 
certain  definite  principles  of  grammar.  At  all  events,  a 
good  English  writer  should  be  able  to  analyze  every  sen- 
tence   he    writes,  word    by  word.      He    should    be  able, 


732  RHETORIC    APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

more  particularly,  to  tell  the  character  and  derivation  of 
every  substantive  word,  of  what  it  is  the  subject  or  the 
object,  its  opposition  with  another,  or  its  independence 
by  address,  exclamation,  pleonasm,  ellipsis  ;  to  tell  the 
quality  and  name  of  each  adjective,  and  whether  it  is 
used  as  belonging  to  something  else,  or  substantively  ;  to 
describe  every  pronoun,  and  what  it  refers  to  and  is  con- 
nected with  ;  to  characterize  and  inflect  every  verb,  and 
show  clearly,  if  a  finite  verb,  what  it  agrees  with,  or,  if 
an  infinitive,  what  it  has  for  its  subject,  or,  if  a  participial, 
what  it  belongs  to  ;  and  in  the  whole  sentence  what  its 
use  is,  and  what  it  depends  upon  ;  to  show  what  every 
adverb  modifies  ;  what  every  preposition  governs  and 
marks  the  relation  of,  and  what  every  conjunction  and 
connective  co-ordinates  or  subordinates  ;  in  fact,  to  parse 
the  whole  sentence,  whether  simple  or  complex,  and  to 
be  able  to  give  both  its  etymology  and  syntax.  This  is 
really  no  easy  task  ;  but  how  else  can  a  man  know  for 
himself  if  he  writes  correctly?  One  should  therefore 
attend  to — 

'(i.)  Grammatical  analysis,  so   far  as  to  be  able  to  de- 
tect   common    errors    in    construction.      Many    of   these 

might    profitably    be    mentioned  ;    but   we 
Grammatical  ^  ■   ^      r 

.     .         will    not    enter    mto    these,  which    form   so 

portentous  an  array  ;  we  will  refer  the 
student  to  any  good  English  grammar.  These  gram- 
matical errors  relate  chiefly  to  the  improper  use  of 
verbal  cases  and  tenses  ;  the  use  or  omission  of  the  arti- 
cle ;  the  use  or  omission  of  the  negative  ;  the  employ- 
ment of  useless  intensives,  to  which  American  writers 
greatly  tend  ;  the  mixing  of  the  numbers  and  cases  of 
pronouns  ("  the  management  of  pronouns,"  says  Mr. 
Moon,  "  is  the  test  of  a  scholar's  mastery  over  lan- 
guage") ;  the   improper  or  superfluous  use    of  preposi- 


STYLE.  733 

tions  ;  the  awkward  use  of  conjunctives  ;  the  false  use  of 
and  the  use  of  false  adverbs  ;  the  wrong  agreement  of 
words  in  sentences  ;  the  improper  collocation  of  words  ; 
the  making  of  weak  and  loose  sentences  through  the  too 
great  separation  of  their  connected  parts,  or  what  Dr. 
Campbell  calls  "  a  constructive  ambiguity  ;"  the  use  of 
sentences  whose  members  are  imperfect.  There  may  be, 
it  is  true,  an  over-precision  of  style,  which  is  almost  as 
bad  as  carelessness  ;  but  the  present  tendency  is  not  in 
that  direction  ;  and  what  we,  as  preachers,  should  aim 
at,  is  correct,  plain,  idiomatic  English.  One  should  also 
attend  to — 

(2.)  Particular  words  and   phrases  which  are  common 
violations  of  grammatical  correctness,  or,  at  least,  of  ele- 
gant usage.    It  is  w^ell  for  a  preacher  to  keep 
a   list   of  these,  to   which   he   is  continually    Words  and 

adding  ;    and   that  will   serve  him   as  a  re-       phrases 

.J  ,,  •  J     •      1  •  J  which  are 

mmder,  as  well   as  an  aid,  m  his  endeavor     ... 

violations  of 

after     grammatical     correctness     of     style,   grammatical 
"  Literature,  if  it  is  to  flourish,  must  have  a   correctness, 
standard  of  taste  to   build  up,  which  shall 
expand  to  meet  new  forms  of  excellence,  but  which  shall 
preserve  that  which  is  excellent  in  old  forms,  and  shall 
serve  as  a  guide  to  the  rejection  of  whatever  is  bad,  pre- 
tentious, and  artificial  ;  and  it  is  the  business  of  critics  to 
see  that  this  standard  is  built  up  and  maintained." 

Sec.   33.   Relative  properties  of  Style. 

The  related  properties  of  style  are  something  more 
than  language  in  the  abstract,  and  comprehend  all  those 
relations  to  the  mind  and  condition,  both  of  the  speaker 
and  hearer,  which  affect  style.  They  refer  to  style  in  the 
concrete,  to  the  style  of  the  individual  who   is  speaking, 


734  RHETORIC   APPLIED    TO   PREACHING 

and   also   of  his  speaking  upon  a  certain   subject,  for  a 

certain  object,  and  to  a  certain  class  of  hearers.     The 

speaker's  individuality  and  personality  are  now  infused 

into  the  style,  and  color  it. 

I.   Subjective  qualities  ;  as  depending  upon 

jec  ive     the  speaker  himself,  or  having  relation  chiefly 
qualities. 

to  his  own  thought. 

These  are  appropriate  thought,  consecutive  thought, 
and  individuality  of  style  or  thought. 

(i.)  Appropriate  thought.     There  should  be  in  every 

true  discourse  not  only  thought,  but  thought  appropriate 

to  the  subject  and  the  occasion.     One  who 

ppropria  e   jj^tempts  to    write   or  speak   for  the  public 
thought.        ,  ^  .  ^  ^      , 

should  not  write  or  speak   merely    for    the 

sake  of  doing  so,  without  an  express  aim  or  purpose. 

The  beauty  of  the  style  of  the  ancient  classic  writers 
is,  according  to  John  Stuart  Mill,  that  it  is  so  highly  sig- 
nificant ;  that  there  are  no  words  or  phrases  which  are 
meaningless  ;  that  there  is  little  writing,  apparently,  for 
the  mere  sake  of  writing  ;  but  all  has  some  genuine  mean- 
ing, some  definite,  if  not  always  true,  sense.  This  real- 
ness  of  style  makes  the  chief  strength  and  beauty  of 
classical  writings.  Whately,  on  the  contrary,  seems  to 
give  something  like  this  advice — that  one  should  learn 
facility  in  mere  word-making,  without  (as  far  as  rhetoric 
is  concerned)  caring  so  much  for  the  thought.  But  such 
advice  should  be  received  with  caution,  for  it  indicates, 
we  think,  an  inadequate  conception  of  the  theory  of 
rhetoric.  Substantial  and  appropriate  thought  is  the 
foundation  of  every  true  discourse.  Demosthenes  never 
dared  to  appeal  to  the  feelings  of  his  audience,  or  to  urge 
them  to  any  policy  or  action,  without  first  presenting  a 
solid  argument  for  his  views.  The  body  of  his  orations 
is  composed  of  substantial  reasoning  ;  the  laying  down  of 


STYLE.  735 

principles  and  facts  ;  appealing  to  sound  sense,  and  ap- 
propriate to  the  subject  and  occasion.  Such  a  process 
has  not  only  a  value  in  developing  the  subject  itself,  but 
it  also  develops  the  man  ;  it  shows  the  treasures  of  his 
mind  and  thought.  This  serves  to  create  confidence  in 
the  correctness  of  his  conclusions.  And  when  the  con- 
clusion is  urged  upon  the  heart  and  conscience  of  the 
audience,  they  are  prepared  for  it.  The  force  of  the 
speaker's  thought  has  moulded  their  thought  into  an 
image  of  his  own.  No  man  can  begin  to  be  eloquent 
till  he  has  been  sensible,  till  he  has,  so  to  speak,  built  his 
fort  of  solid  masonry  to  fire  from.  "  High  nonsense," 
as  some  one  calls  it,  cannot  be  eloquent.  No  facility  of 
speech,  no  word-making,  can  ever  supply  the  place  of 
substantial  and  appropriate  thought.  Eloquence,  in  its 
widest  sense,  is,  first,  subjectively,  the  native  power  of 
thought,  and,  objectively,  the  art  of  using  this  so  that  it 
shall  attain  a  certain  worthy  and  definite  end.  Appro- 
priate thought  is,  above  all,  reasonable  thought.  A 
speaker  should  have  some  real  truth  to  communicate, 
and  should  do  it  in  words  that  convey  some  real  thought 
to  the  mind.  This  is  sometimes  called  "  significance"  in 
style.  It  is  hardly  needful  to  dwell  upon  the  point 
that  in  a  sermon  there  should  be  nothing  contrary  to 
good  sense.  Reasonable  thinking  is  an  essential  quality 
of  a  sermon.  This  does  not  admit  of  anything  pue- 
rile, frivolous,  merely  marvellous,  or  vainly  pedantic. 
It  does  not  admit  .of  spending  the  precious  hour  of 
preaching  in  trifles  or  insignificant  discussions.  "  As  a 
speaker  of  the  word,"  Carlyle  says,  "  he  will  speak  real 
words  ;  no  idle  jargon  or  hollow  triviality  will  come  from 
him." 

There  may  be  much  that  is  plain  and  commonplace  in 
a  sermon  ;   much  that  has  been   said  before  ;   much  that 


v( 


736  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

does  not  demand  a  great  amount  of  thought  to  invent  or 
to  assent  to  ;  much,  even,  that  is  "  goodish"  rather  than 
good  ;  and  yet  the  reasonable  quality  of  the  sermon  need 
not  be  destroyed  or  compromised  ;  the  bread,  if  not  the 
finest  of  the  wheat,  is  still  nourishing  food  to  many 
minds  ;  but  this  is  not  saying,  that,  under  any  circum- 
stances, what  is  absolutely  unsound  or  nonsensical  can 
be  allowed.  All  things  must  come  to  the  test  of  common 
sense,  which  is  the  sense  that  everywhere  prevails,  and  is 
established  among  sound-minded  men. 

(2.)  Consecutive  thought.      There  should   not   only  be 

thought,  and  appropriate  thought,  but  orderly  thought — 

a  rational  succession  of  ideas — the  avoidance 

^,       ,  of  scattering,  fragmentary,  and  disconnected 

thought. 

thoughts.      Whatever  has  any  pretence  to  a 

regular  discourse  demands,  at  least,  that  quality  ;  and 
this  is  not  denying  that  there  may  be,  at  times,  bold  and 
apparently  unconnected  thoughts,  left  standing  by  them- 
selves, like  big  boulders  in  a  landscape,  not  nicely  fitted 
into  the  frame  of  the  discourse,  and  giving  energy  and 
picturesqueness  to  style,  breaking  up  a  dull  monotony. 
But  there  should  be,  nevertheless,  either  a  natural  or  a 
logical  progress  of  ideas — one  sentence  making  addition 
to  another,  one  paragraph  being  developed  from  the 
thought  or  statement  contained  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph, one  division  forming  an  advance  to  the  next. 

There  should  be  a  movement  in  the  discourse,  or  it 
should  be  thought  in  motion,  increasing  in  volume  like  a 
river,  every  word,  sentence,  paragraph,  division,  prepar- 
ing for  what  follows,  and  all  forming  a  united,  living  cur- 
rent of  thought.  Short,  broken  sentences  ;  long  and  cir- 
cuitous parentheses,  where  the  idea,  or  another  than  the 
main  idea,  is  carried  off  into  numberless  ramifications  ; 
practical  thoughts  interspersed    too   freely   in   pure  argu- 


STYLE.  737 

mentation  ;  inconsequential  and  casual  remarks — these 
break  the  onward  current,  which  should  not  for  a  moment 
stagnate,  and  which  should  move,  even  if  it  moves 
slowly.  A  spoken  discourse  is  not  like  a  scientific  dis- 
quisition, which  may  be  a  deep  pool  of  contemplation, 
rather  than  a  fluent  stream  of  thought  ;  but  a  sermon 
should  introduce  thoughts  in  their  natural  sequence,  and 
should  move  on  to  some  definite  end.  Care  should  be 
taken  in  a  sermon  to  bind  it  together,  not  only  by  con- 
secutiveness  of  thought,  but  by  ever)-  mechanical  help 
afforded  by  the  connections  of  the  language  and  the 
structure  of  sentences.  It  is  not  well  to  employ  very 
short  sentences,  or  a  highly  sententious  style  ;  they  are 
more  fitted  to  the  neat  moral  essay  than  the  sacred  dis- 
course that  lays  before  us  the  inexhaustible  riches  of 
divine  truth. 

(3.)    Individuality   of  thought    and    style.       We    have 
spoken  of  this  in  another  connection.      It  is  that  quality 
in  which  the  man  appears  in  a  style  that   is 
perfectly    natural    to    him.       It    is    a    noble  Individuality 

T     •        /•       1  •  .  <*f  thought 

quality.     It  isrefreshmg  to  hear  a  man  s  own         .    .   , 

ideas  spoken  in  his  own  w'ay.  The  effect  pro- 
duced is  always  greater  when  there  is  a  sense  of  personal 
address,  springing  from  the  speaker's  own  mind  and  feel- 
ings, rather  than  from  the  thought  and  impulse  of 
another  mind.  We  do  not  wish  to  hear  Chalmers  from 
any  but  Chalmers.  We  wish  to  feel  that  we  are  taken 
into  the  confidence  of  the  speaker,  and  that  we  are  listen- 
ing to  the  actual  utterances  of  his  heart.  We  may  be 
dazzled  by  the  artificial  speaker,  but  he  cannot  move  us 
as  that  man  can,  who,  with  a  higher  earnestness  of  pur- 
pose, shows  us  himself,  opens  to  us  his  confidence,  utters 
thoughts  which  he  has  wrought  by  the  toil  of  his  own 
mind.      One    may    increase     his     individualit}-    of    style, 


738  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

I.  By  aiming  at  independent  thought.  He  may  not  aim 
at  originaUty,  but  he  should  aim  at  saying  what  he  truly 
thinks.  We  call  Thomas  Fuller  an  original  writer,  but 
his  originality  does  not  consist  in  his  saying  things  in  an 
odd  way,  but  in  his  strong,  independent  thinking.  The 
very  subject  of  the  thought  is  his  own,  as  well  as  the  lan- 
guage in  which  it  is  expressed.  There  is  no  mistaking 
the  characteristic  individuality  of  his  style.  A  fresh 
thought  of  one's  own,  even  if  he  is  not  what  is  called  a 
man  of  genius,  is  worth  ten  of  another's,  to  give  him 
power  as  a  speaker.  One  may  increase  his  individuality 
of  style,  2.  By  employing  the  more  direct  personal  ad- 
dress— by  not  talking  to  the  world,  or  men  in  general, 
but  to  men  before  him.  It  is  one  man  talking  to 
another,  and  not  discoursing  about  indifferent  things. 
Let  there  be  never  so  profound  a  course  of  thought  in  a 
sermon,  yet  the  audience  should  be  made  to  feel  that  it 
is  addressed  to  them--to  each  of  them. 

Small  things  sometimes  aid  this.  Luther  liked  "  thees 
and  thous"  in  a  sermon.  The  use  of  the  pronoun  "  you" 
may  give  the  sermon  all  the  point  needed.  The  indi- 
vidualizing, sometimes,  of  a  member  of  the  audience  as 
"  my  brother"  does  this.  A  sudden  grasp  laid  upon  some 
particular  conscience,  an  allusion  to  some  recent  and 
real  event,  some  common  affliction  or  bereavement,  some- 
thing which  brings  the  thought  into  the  present — this 
helps  individuality  of  style.  Of  course  this  directness  of 
address  should  not  be  overdone,  for  personalities  in  the 
pulpit  are  outrageous.  But  one  need  not  be  too  much 
afraid  of  hurting  people's  feelings  by  a  friendly  and  manly 
directness  of  address  ;  for  the  habit  of  applying  unpleas- 
ant truth  to  our  neighbors,  instead  of  to  ourselves,  is  of 
familiar  occurrence. 

A  preacher  becomes  more  individual  in  style  w^io  has 


STYLE.  739 

an  individual  in  view  ;  for  this  necessarily  narrows  and 
shapes  his  thought,  and  gives  it  a  personal  directness. 
The  eye,  the  finger,  the  whole  manner,  should  aid  in 
lending  life  and  point  to  speech.  Modern  sermons  lack 
point,  and  hence  individuality  of  style.  The  essay  style 
scrupulously  avoids  directness  ;  and  in  the  essay  style 
this  is  a  great  beauty.  One  may  increase  his  individu- 
ality of  style,  3.  By  preaching  specific  truth.  Generali- 
ties may  arouse  the  mind,  but  particulars  search  the 
heart.  A  single  apt  fact  is  more  forcible  than  the  most 
eloquent  deduction.  Where  thus  specifically  preached, 
the  truth  acquires  an  edge  ;  it  becomes  indeed  like  "  any 
two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder 
of  soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a 
discerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart." 

Sec.  34.  Objective  qualities;  as  depending  upon  the 
speaker,  but  having  more  particular  reference  to  their 
effect  on  the  hearer  or  the  audience  addressed. 

This  second  department  of  the  relative  properties  of 
style,  which,  though  it  has  also  much  to  do  with  the 
speaker  himself  and  with  his  character,  has  peculiar  ref- 
erence to  its  effect  upon  the  mind  addressed,  and  which 
is  mainly  objective  in  its  nature,  has  been  differently 
classified  by  different  writers  upon  rhetoric.  Thus  Quin- 
tilian  says  that  all  language  has  three  kinds  of  excel- 
lence— to  be  correct,  perspicuous,  elegant.'  VVhately 
sums  up  these  objective  qualities  of  style  under  the 
heads  of  perspicuity,  energy,  and  elegance  ;  Dr.  Shedd 
into  plainness,  force,  and  beauty  ;  Professor  H.  N.  Day 
considers   them    to    be*  comprised  in   the  properties  of 


'  "  Institut.,"  B.  i.  ch.  v.,  i. 


74°  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

clearness,  energy,  and  beauty  ;  Vinet  has  a  wider  classi- 
fication into  the  qualities  of  perspicuity,  purity,  pro- 
priety, precision,  rapidity,  proportion,  order,  popularity, 
familiarity,  nobleness,  gravity,  etc.  Evidently,  some  of 
these  last-mentioned  kinds  mean  the  same  thing  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree  of  development  ;  and  all  of  them, 
perhaps,  might  be  combined  in  the  two  simple  qualities 
of  strength  and  beauty. 

We  would  make  a  somewhat  wider  classification  than 
that  of    Whately,    though   less    extended    than    that    of 

_,      .^  Vinet  ;  and  we  would  treat  especially  of  the 

Classification. 

qualities    of    Purity,    Propriety,    Precision, 

Perspicuity,  Energy,  Elegance. 

(i.)  Purity.      Purity  of  style  is  that  quality  which  does 

not    violate    any    of    the    true    principles    of    language, 

in   respect   of   form,  construction,  or   mean- 
Purity.  ^  ' 
ing. 

Purity,  and  the  other  qualities  of  style  which  we  shall 
mention,  belong,  it  is  true,  in  some  sense,  to  those  funda- 
mental and  invariable  qualities  which  relate  to  language  ; 
but  they  have  also  intimate  relations  to  the  audience  ad- 
dressed, and  the  effect  upon  them.  An  Athenian  audi- 
ence, we  are  told,  could  detect,  and  would  hiss  a  wrong 
accent,  a  mispronunciation,  or  a  barbarism.  A  preacher 
who  violates  purity  of  style  may,  in  like  manner,  in  these 
modern  days,  lose  power  with  intelligent  and  educated 
hearers,  and,  more  or  less,  with  all.  The  preacher  of  the 
pure  truth  of  Christianity  should  aim  at  a  pure  style  ;  and 
this  remark  might  even  be  extended  to  the  general  truth 
or  purity  of  the  subject-matter  discussed — that  the  great 
laws  of  true  thinking  and  of  truth  should  not  be  vio- 
lated. It  is  true  that  language  is  a  growth,  and  that  it 
cannot  be  constrained  rigidly  by  laws  which  necessity  and 
usag-e  are  sure  to  disregard.      But  there  are  certain  sound 


STYLE.  741 

principles  of  language,  and  there  should  be  some  stand- 
ard of  good  language  to  which  even  usage  should  pay 
reasonable  deference,  else  there  could  be  no  improvement 
in  language,  and  bad  usage  as  well  as  good  usage  would 
prevail.  Words  and  phrases  springing  from  disrepu- 
table quarters,  from  vulgar  sources,  from  loose  collo- 
quial intercourse,  from  a  careless  literature,  and  even 
from  private  pedantry  and  assumption,  these  should  be 
steadily  resisted.  The  laws  of  right  reason  and  sound 
philosophy  in  language  should  be  firmly  maintained, 
while  at  the  same  time  the  true  genius  and  spirit  of  the 
language  should  have  free  play  given  to  it  ;  the  writer  or 
preacher  should  aim  at  the  most  vigorous  use  of  idiom- 
atic English  without  fear  of  the  carpings  of  the  critic 
before  his  eyes.  But  more  precisely  viewed,  purity 
of  style  forbids,  («.)  The  needless  intro- 
duction   of   new  words  into   the    language.      ,    ""  ^ 

of  style,  how 
Augustus  Caesar  declared  himself  unable  to      violated. 

introduce  a  new  word  into  the  Latin  lan- 
guage. It  is  an  immense  assumption  to  coin  a  word  ; 
but  few  can  do  this.  A  discoverer  may  invent  a  new 
word  for  his  discovery  ;  a  master  in  any  science  may  coin 
a  word  when  the  progress  of  science  demands  it  ;  writers 
of  established  eminence  may  sometimes  modestly  pro- 
pose new  words,  merely  by  way  of  suggestion.  New 
words  made  by  compounding  old  ones  form  also  a  vio- 
lation of  this  principle.  Our  language  has  not  the  fatal 
facility  of  the  German  in  creating  compound  words. 
(3.)  Introduction  of  foreign  words.  There  is  a  great 
danger  in  introducing  German  words  and  idioms  into 
our  preaching  and  theological  literature.  The  careful 
use  of  English  words  and  English  idioms  is  one  of  the 
first  qualities  of  purity.  Americans,  as  a  nation,  are 
peculiarly  imitative  and  assimilative  ;  we    take   all    ele- 


742  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

merits  of  nationality  into  our  wide  civilization  {colluvio 
omnium  gentium)  ;  there  should  be,  therefore,  while  we 
are  an  English-speaking  nation,  a  stricter  watch  kept 
against  the  corruption  of  the  language  from  these  for- 
eign sources.  The  habit  of  introducing  French  words 
and  phrases  by  half-educated  and  perhaps  travelled  peo- 
ple is  a  weakness  that  should  be  resisted.  There  is  a 
pithy  passage  which  we  will  quote  from  the  writings  of  a 
very  old  English  author  of  the  time  of  Edward  VI.  (Sir 
John  Cheke),  which  is  interesting  from  the  fact  that  this 
author  himself  in  his  day  exerted  considerable  influence 
in  preventing  the  inroad  of  foreign  words  into  the  lan- 
guage, when  the  current  was  strong  that  way  ;  and  it  also 
shows  how  early  a  jealousy  was  awakened  for  the  preser- 
vation of  the  purity  of  our  tongue.  He  says,  "  Among 
other  lessons,  this  should  first  be  learned,  that  we  never 
affect  any  strange  inkhorn  terms,  but  to  speak  as  is  com- 
monly received  ;  neither  seeking  to  be  overfine,  nor  yet 
living  over  careless  ;  using  our  speech  as  most  men  do, 
and  ordering  our  wits  as  the  fewest  have  done.  Some 
seek  so  far  for  outlandish  English  that  they  forget  alto- 
gether their  mother  language.  And  I  dare  swear  this  :  if 
some  of  their  mothers  were  alive,  they  were  not  able  to 
tell  what  they  say  ;  and  yet  these  fine  English  clerks  will 
say  they  speak  their  mother  tongue,  if  a  man  should 
charge  them  with  counterfeiting  the  king's  English. 
Some  far  journeyed  gentlemen,  at  their  return  home,  like 
as  they  love  to  go  in  foreign  apparel,  so  they  will  ponder 
their  talk  with  over-sea  language.  He  that  cometh  lately 
out  of  France  will  talk  French-English,  and  never  blush 
at  the  matter.  Another  chops  in  with  English  Italian- 
ated,  and  applieth  the  Italian  phrase  to  our  English  speak- 
ing. The  unlearned,  or  foolish-fantastical  that  smells  but 
of  learning  (such  fellows  as  have  seen  learned  men  in 


STYLE.  743 

their  day),  will  so  Latin  their  tongues  that  the  simple 
cannot  but  wonder  at  their  talk,  and  think  surely  they 
speak  by  some  revelation.  I  know  them  that  think 
rhetoric  to  stand  wholly  upon  dark  words  ;  and  he  that 
can  catch  an  inkhorn  term  by  the  tail,  him  they  account 
to  be  a  fine  Englishman  and  a  good  rhetorician."  (r,) 
Introduction  of  obsolete  words.  Such  words  as  "  hap," 
"haply,"  "meeten*,"  "aweary,"  "  methinks, "  "be- 
hoove," and  many  words  that  may  be  used  in  poetry  are 
not  fitted  for  prose.  The  constant  use  of  the  Bible  by 
ministers  may  sometimes  lead  imperceptibly  to  the  use  of 
archaisms.  (</.)  Introduction  of  cant  and  slang  words. 
A  homely,  strong,  common  word,  or  phrase,  is  often 
effective — in  some  audiences  the  occasional  introduction 
of  such  is  almost  imperative — but  a  decidedly  cant  ex- 
pression— religious  cant  the  worst  of  all — is  not  to  be  de- 
fended. "  Cant  is  a  phraseology  composed  of  genuine 
words  soberly  used  by  some  sect,  profession,  or  sort  of 
men,  in  one  legitimate  sense,  which  they  adopt  to  the 
exclusion  of  others,  as  having  peculiar  virtue,  and  which 
thereby  becomes  peculiar  to  themselves.  Cant  is  more 
or  less  enduring,  its  use  continuing,  with  no  variation  of 
meaning,  through  generations.  Slang  is  a  vocabulary  of 
genuine  words  or  unmeaning  jargon,  used  always  with  an 
arbitrary  and  conventional  signification,  and  generally 
with  humorous  intent.  It  is  mostly  coarse,  low,  and 
foolish,  although  in  some  cases,  owing  to  circumstances 
of  the  time,  it  is  racy,  pungent,  and  pregnant  of  mean- 
ing. Slang,  as  distinguished  from  cant,  is  very  evan- 
escent. It  generally  passes  out  of  use  and  out  of  mind  in 
the  course  of  a  few  years,  and  often  in  a  few  months."  ' 
It  might  be  added  to  this  description,  that  though  every 


'  Richard  Grant  White's  "  Words  and  their  Uses,"  p.  85. 


744  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

profession  has  its  cant  phrases,  as  the  legal,  which  talks 
of  the  "  said"  and  the  "  aforesaid  ;"  of  the  medical, 
which  characterizes  diseases  as  "  affections  ;"  the  clerical 
profession,  and  the  whole  sphere  of  ecclesiastical  and 
religious  life  particularly  abound  in  cant  phraseology, 
in  such  words  and  phrases  as,  for  example,  "  love  of 
souls,"  "to  be  serious"  for  "to  be  thoughtful"  in 
religious  things,  "to  be  stupid"  for  "to  be  indiffer- 
ent, "  "  professor"  for  ' '  member  of  the  church, "  "  worms 
of  the  dust,"  "wilderness-world,"  "vale  of  tears," 
"  solemnize  our  minds,"  etc.  The  frequent  use  of 
"heart,"  and  "our  hearts,"  in  a  peculiar  sense,  and 
the  constant  repetition  of  the  Lord's  name  in  prayer, 
"  O  Lord,"  or  "  O  God" — such  expressions  should  as 
much  as  possible  be  avoided,  and,  above  all,  those  pious 
expressions  in  which  there  is  no  moral  or  religious  sin- 
cerity, which  is  the  worst  of  all  cant,  which  not  only  vio- 
lates good  taste  but  good  morals.  There  may  be  indeed 
technical  words  belonging  to  every  business  and  art,  but 
words  that  are  not  good  English  in  other  relations,  and 
that  convey  to  those  outside  of  the  particular  circle  of 
the  persons  who  use  them  no  definite  or  right  idea,  these 
are  violations  of  purity.  Pericles,  it  is  said,  never  as- 
cended the  bema  without  the  prayer  that  no  unfit  word 
might  fall  from  his  lips  ;  and  should  the  preacher  of 
divine  truth  be  less  careful  ?  Both  cant  and  slang  attract 
only  a  low  class  of  minds,  since  impurities  of  style  are 
allied  to  impurities  of  thought  ;  and  we  prefer  to  see 
coarseness  anywhere  rather  than  in  the  minister  of  Christ. 
The  use  of  profane  words,  though  employed  only  as  illus- 
trations, or  quotations,  is  to  be  shunned  ;  and  there  may 
be  too  much  made  even  of  the  excellent  idea  that  the  lan- 
guage of  the  pulpit  should  be  common  language  ;  it  cer- 
tainly should  be  plain,  but  not  too  familiar,  not  too  low, 


STYLE.  745 

certainly  never  vulgar.  People  go  to  church  expecting 
something  a  little  higher,  in  point  of  carefulness  and  dig- 
nity of  expression,  than  slipshod  and  every-day  speech. 
Sacred  themes  demand,  to  a  certain  degree,  elevated  lan- 
guage. What  little  life  or  power  is  momentarily  secured 
by  the  use  of  low  words  or  phrases  soon  passes  away  ; 
while  of  other  things  more  is  lost  than  gained,  (r.)  In- 
troduction of  solecisms.  Solecisms  usually  apply  more  to 
phrases  than  words  ;  and  they  are  words  and  phrases 
used  in  unwonted  and  unjustifiable  senses.  Jonathan 
Edwards*  peculiar  philosophical  use  of  the  word  "  neces- 
sity" has  occasioned  perplexity  in  theological  science. 
(/.)  Introduction  of  barbarisms.  There  are  words  and 
terms  that  are  really  not  English,  and  are  totally  con- 
trary to  English  usage  and  idiom.  (^.)  Introduction  of 
words  or  thoughts  which  violate  manly  simplicity  and 
good  taste.  The  giving  way  to  loose  images,  or  to  a 
luxuriant  fancy,  or  to  an  overwrought  and  unnatural  in- 
tensity of  expression,  or  to  fantastic  efforts  to  write 
more  finely  and  impressively  than  good  sense  dictates, 
destroys  purity  of  style.  This  fault  may  be  indicated, 
rather  than  fully  described. 

We  should  strive  for  purity  of  style,  because  a  pure 
language  associates  us  with  our  English  ancestors,  and 
with  Chatham,  Milton,  Hampden,  Spenser,  Bacon, 
Shakespeare,  Chaucer,  Wyclif,  and,  above  all,  with  the 
English  Bible  ;  and  it  associates  us,  also,  with  the  great 
statesmen,  poets,  writers,  and  preachers  who  speak  the 
English  language  now.  It  contributes,  likewise,  to  the 
permanence  of  a  man's  usefulness,  especially  of  a  minis- 
ter's, who  would  speak  through  his  pen.  If  a  man  has 
not  a  pure  style  of  writing,  his  thoughts,  however  excel- 
lent, will  not  float  his  style  ;  for  purity  of  style  is  the 
beginning  and   indispensable    accompaniment    of   every 


746  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

other  literary  excellence  ;  it  is  essential  to  precision,  ele- 
gance, vigor.  And  the  care  to  preserve  purity  of  style  is 
the  great  safeguard  to  the  constant  tendency  to  debase- 
ment in  language.  In  our  country,  where  there  is  no 
acknowledged  standard  of  language,  where  there  is  great 
difference  of  custom,  variety  of  races,  and  an  unrestrain- 
ed freedom  of  expression,  it  should  be  particularly  borne 
in  mind  by  ministers  that  they,  as  educated  men,  are  the 
guardians  of  the  purity  of  our  tongue,  and  that  there  is  a 
moral  responsibility  connected  with  their  being  so. 

Purity  of  style  may  be  preserved — 

(«.)  By  care  to  avoid   at  all  times  the  use  of  ungram- 

matical,   superfluous,  and  idle  expressions.      Above  all, 

this  should   be  observed    in    common    con- 

ow  pun  y   ygrsation.     Conversation  is  a  fine  art.     One 
of  style  may     ,       ,,,.,.      •  r 

be  preserved,  should  study  it.      It    is  a    great    means    of 

influence  to  a  minister.  To  be  free  and 
spontaneous  in  conversation,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
speak  pure  English,  and  to  retain  the  best  form  of 
expression,  is  a  noble  accomplishment.  Some  ministers 
wield  a  greater  influence  by  their  conversation  than 
by  their  preaching  ;  for  they  are  some  other  persons 
in  preaching,  but  in  conversation  they  are  themselves. 
While,  then,  avoiding  pedantry  and  stiff  precision,  let 
one  strive  to  use  the  purest  and  most  select  English  in 
all  that  he  says.  Let  him  make  sparing  use  of  contrac- 
tions. Let  him  not  allow  a  low  or  slang  word  to  slip  out  ; 
for  the  expressions  one  is  accustomed  to  use  in  conversa- 
tion will  surely  show  themselves  in  the  pulpit,  especially 
in  extemporaneous  discourse. 

He  who  is  in  the  habit  of  strewing  along  his  conver- 
sation such  words  as  "orate,"  "donate,"  "posted," 
"  booked  up,"  "  dead-headed,"  "  enthused  ;"  or  "  bal- 
ance" for  "  remainder  ;"  or  "  a  party"  for  "  a  person  ;" 


STYLE.  747 

or  "calculate"  for  "expect;"  or  "guess"  for  "sup- 
pose;" or  "inaugurate"  for  something  very  small  in- 
deed, as  "to  inaugurate  a  debating  society  or  an  eat- 
ing club  ;"  or  "  deputize"  for  "  depute,"  or  "  fix"  for 
"arrange"  and  "manage,"  or  "lit"  for  "lighted,"  or 
"  unbeknown,"  or  "  hadn't  ought,"  or  "  first-rate,"  and 
a  hundred  such  words  and  phrases,  the  most  of  which 
are  American  products,  and  not  good  ones  at  that — -a 
man  who  uses  such  loose  words  and  phrases  habitually  in 
his  talk,  cannot  deliver  an  off-hand  address  without  be- 
traying by  his  language,  either  his  want  of  education  or 
his  want  of  refinement  ;  for  a  refined  man  is  shown  in  his 
conversation  more  quickly  than  in  any  other  way.  Bur- 
net, in  the  "  History  of  His  Own  Time,"  says  of  Leighton, 
"  In  a  free  and  frequent  conversation  with  him  for 
twenty-two  years  I  never  heard  him  utter  an  idle  word, 
or  a  word  that  had  not  a  direct  tendency  to  edification." 

(^.)  By  close  familiarity  with  a  few  of  the  purest  Eng- 
lish authors.  Let  one  study  the  style  of  Herbert's 
prose,  of  Goldsmith,  Addison,  De  Foe,  Izaak  Walton, 
Thomas  Hooker,  Robert  Southey,  Wordsworth,  Jeffrey, 
Hallam,  Washington  Irving,  and  William  Prescott  ;  and 
the  reverse  is  also  true,  viz.,  a  cautious  reading  (so  far  as 
regards  their  style)  of  authors  of  doubtful  purity,  such  as 
Carlyle  and  Coleridge's  prose. 

{c.')  By  the  study  of  English  lexicography.  Of  a  good 
dictionary  one  might  say,  "  Turn  it  day  and  night."  In 
the  use  of  dictionaries,  however,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  our  most  popular  modern  dictionaries  are  not 
only  dictionaries  of  the  English  language,  but  encyclo- 
paedias, compendiums  of  myriads  of  words  that  are  not 
pure  English  ;  in  fact,  of  all  words  that  have  been,  used  by, 
English  writers. 

(^/.)  By  the   use   of  rhetorical    criticism,    not    only    of 


748  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

others,  but  of  one's  own.  One  should  never  use  a  doubt- 
ful word  without  examination  ;  let  him  try  himself  more 
unsparingly  than  any  one  else.  If  one  would  not  wish 
to  wear  a  dirty,  ragged,  and  unbecoming  coat  in  the 
public  street,  why  should  he  not  take  pains  to  make  his 
words  fit  his  thoughts  neatly,  and  set  them  off  fairly,  so 
that  his  mind  may  make  its  best  appearance  in  public  ? 

(r.)  By  the  critical  study  of  ancient  classic  models. 
We  must  go  to  the  Greek  for  form,  as  we  do  to  the  Latin 
for  dignity  of  style.  Were  there  room,  we  would  quote 
on  this  point  the  whole  of  a  remarkable  letter  of  Lord 
Brougham  to  Zachary  Macaulay,  giving  him  advice  in 
regard  to  the  rhetorical  training  of  his  son,  Thomas 
Babington,  bearing  date,  "  Newcastle,  March  loth, 
1823  ;"  but  we  must  content  ourselves  with  a  few  of  the 
closing  paragraphs  :  "  If  he  would  be  a  great  orator,  he 
must  go  at  once  to  the  fountain-head,  and  be  familiar 
with  every  one  of  the  great  orations  of  Demosthenes.  I 
take  for  granted  that  he  knows  those  of  Cicero  by  heart  ; 
they  are  very  beautiful,  but  not  very  useful,  except,  per- 
haps, the  Pro  Milone,  Pro  Ligario,  and  one  or  two  more  ; 
but  the  Greek  must  positively  be  the  model  ;  and  merely 
reading  it,  as  boys  do,  to  know  the  language,  won't  do  at 
all  ;  he  must  enter  into  the  spirit  of  each  speech,  thor- 
oughly know  the  positions  of  the  parties,  follow  each 
turn  of  the  argument,  and  make  the  absolutely  perfect 
and  most  chaste  and  severe  composition  familiar  to  his 
mind.  His  taste  will  improve  every  time  he  reads  and 
repeats  to  himself  (for  he  should  have  the  fine  passages 
by  heart),  and  he  will  learn  how  much  may  be  done  by  a 
skillful  use  of  a  few  words,  and  a  rigorous  rejection  of  all 
superfluities.  In  this  view,  I  hold  a  familiar  knowledge 
of  Dante  to  be  next  toDemosthenes,  It  is  in  vain  to  say 
that  imitations  of  these  models  won't  do  for  our  times. 


STYLE.  749 

First,  I  do  not  counsel  any  imitation,  but  only  an  imbib- 
ing of  the  same  spirit.  Secondly,  I  know  from  experi- 
ence that  nothing  is  half  so  successful  in  these  times  (bad 
though  they  be)  as  what  has  been  formed  on  the  Greek 
models.  I  use  a  very  poor  instance  in  giving  my  own 
experience  ;  but  I  do  assure  you  that,  both  in  courts  of 
law  and  Parliament,  and  even  to  mobs,  I  have  never 
made  so  much  play  (to  use  a  very  modern  phrase)  as 
when  I  was  almost  translating  from  the  Greek.  I  com- 
posed the  peroration  of  my  speech  for  the  queen,  in  the 
Lords,  after  reading  and  repeating  Demosthenes  for  three 
or  four  weeks  ;  and  I  composed  it  twenty  times  over  at 
least  ;  and  it  certainly  succeeded,  in  a  very  extraordinary 
degree,  and  far  above  any  merits  of  its  own.  This  leads 
me  to  remark  that  though  speaking,  with  writing  before- 
hand, is  very  well  until  the  habit  of  easy  speech  is 
acquired,  yet  after  that  he  can  never  write  too  much  ; 
this  is  quite  clear.  It  is  laborious,  no  doubt,  and  it  is 
more  difificult,  beyond  comparison,  than  speaking  off- 
hand ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  perfect  oratory,  and,  at  any 
rate,  it  is  necessary  to  acquire  the  habit  of  correct  dic- 
tion. But  I  go  further,  and  say,  even  to  the  end  of  a 
man's  life  he  must  prepare,  word  for  word,  most  of  his 
finer  passages.  Now,  would  he  be  a  great  orator,  or  no  ? 
In  other  words,  would  he  have  almost  absolute  power  of 
doing  good  to  mankind,  in  a  free  country,  or  no  ?  So 
he  wills  this,  he  must  follow  these  rules." 

(2.)  Propriety.     This  is  so  nearly  related  to  purity  on 
the  one  hand,  and  to  precision  on  the  other,  that  we  need 

not  dwell  upon  it.      Propriety  is  the  employ- 

s  ,.  ,       ,  Propriety, 

ment  of  words  accordmg  to  the  best  usage, 

in  a  becoming  way,  and  not  in   some  false,  unusual,  and 

improper  manner.     Dean  Swift's  definition  of  style  is  one 

chiefly  of  this  quality  of  propriety,  viz.,  "  the  right  words 


7 So  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

in  the  right  places."  Bruyere,  quoted  by  Vinet,  says, 
"  Among  all  the  different  expressions  which  may  render 
one  and  the  same  thought,  only  one  is  good  ;  we  do  not 
always  fall  in  with  it  in  speaking  or  in  writing.  It  never- 
theless exists,  and  every  other  except  that  is  feeble  ;  and 
a  man  of  mind,  who  wishes  to  be  understood,  can  be 
satisfied  only  with  that."  The  just  expression  is  the 
forcible  one  ;  it  is  the  expression  that  exactly  fits  the 
idea,  whereas  no  other  expression  does  exactly  suit  the 
idea.  Southey  says,  "  The  readiest  and  plainest  style  is 
the  most  forcible,  and  in  all  ordinary  cases,  the  word 
which  first  presents  itself  is  the  best  ;"  and  Swift  in  the 
same  strain  remarks,  "  When  a  man's  thoughts  are  clear, 
the  properest  words  will  generally  offer  themselves  first, 
and  his  own  judgment  will  direct  him  in  what  order  to 
place  them,  so  that  they  may  be  best  understood."  An 
impropriety  of  style  is  committed,  not  only  when  good 
English  words,  or  words  proper  enough  in  themselves, 
do  not  make  good  sense,  because  they  are  employed  out 
of  place,  or  in  some  unusual  manner  ;  but  even  when 
they  are  used  loosely,  carelessly,  confusedly,  and,  as  has 
been  said,  so  as  to  leave  some  gap  between  the  expres- 
sion and  the  thought.  The  best  writers  are  distin- 
guished for  their  thoughtful  yet  easy  propriety  of  lan- 
guage, their  aptness  of  expression.  Their  thought  and 
language  are  identical.  Our  great  military  leader,  Gen- 
eral Sherman,  does  not  probably  pride  himself  on  his 
literary  accomplishments,  but  he  nevertheless  uses  words 
with  wonderful  fitness  and  he  writes  as  if  with  the  point 
of  his  sword. 

(3.)  Precision.     Precision    in  style,   as  applied    to  the 

language  of  a  discourse,  is  that  quality  by 

Precision.         ,  .  ,      ,  .       ,      .  ,       .  ,  , 

which  the  writer  s  idea  is  exactly  expressed 

— no  more  and  no  less  :   as  applied   to  the  subject  of  a 


STYLE.  751 

discourse,  it  is  that  quality  which  prevents  one  from  say- 
ing anything  superfluous,  or  not  saying  enough  to  convey 
the  perfect  idea.  Propriety  is  fitness  of  language  ;  pre- 
cision is  exactness  of  language.  Precision  requires  that 
the  thought  be  accurately  expressed  ;  that  it  be  com- 
pletely brought  out,  but  without  unnecessary  words, 
without  slovenliness  of  expression.  It  is  an  important 
quality  in  giving  strength  and  rapid  movement  to  style. 

Accuracy  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  fundamental  qualities 
of  style,  and  it  is  the  result  of  accurate  and  well-trained 
habits  of  mind.      Precision  may  be  violated — 

(rt.)  By  want  of  a  nice  perception  of  the  essential  differ- 
ences of  words.     As  there  are  a  great  many  words  nearly 

similar,  but  not  the  same,  the  precise  writer 

How  violated, 
is  shown  by  his  clearly  marking  those  shades 

of  difference.  There  are,  in  point  of  fact,  but  few  if 
any  absolute  synonyms  in  the  language.  Words  may 
be  similar  and  they  may  be  used  to  explain  similar 
things,  but  they  are  not  precisely  the  same  ;  and  an 
accurate  writer,  in  contrast  with  a  loose  writer,  is 
shown  in  his  fine  perception  of  such  differentiating  qual- 
ities. He  will  not  use  as  precisely  the  same  terms 
such  similar  words  as  "  sentence"  and  "  condemna- 
tion," "  egotism"  and  "  egoism,"  "  decided"  and  "  de- 
cisive," "  continual"  and  "continuous,"  "atonement" 
and  "redemption,"  "  regeneration"  and  "conversion," 
"  mercy"  and  "  grace,"  "  charity"  and  "  benevolence," 
"  soul"  and  "  spirit,"  "  immortality"  and  "  eternal 
life."  "Custom"  is  not  exactly  "habit;"  "distin- 
guish" is  different  from  "  separate  ;"  "  only"  is  not  just 
the  same  as  "  alone,"  though  so  often  used  as  converti- 
ble terms.  The  word  "  answer"  is  more  colloquial  than 
"  reply  ;"  "  begin"  is  more  familiar  than  "  commence  ;" 
"  commence"    requires   a   verbal    noun    after    it,  where- 


752  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO    PREACHING. 

as  "  begin"  can  take  the  infinitive  instead.  "  The  man 
began  to  sing"  and  "  the  man  commenced  singing" 
are  right  uses.  A  precise  writer  would  say  "  the  day  has 
ended,"  not  "  the  day  has  finished."  He  would  say, 
however,  "  I  have  finished  my  book,"  not  "  I  have 
ended  my  book."  "  Finish"  refers  to  the  result  pro- 
duced by  personal  effort,  but  "  end"  is  better  applied  to 
impersonal  subjects. 

(^.)  By  a  deficiency  of  words.  We  may  use  too  few  as 
well  as  too  many  words  for  precision  ;  and  this  is  an 
especial  source  of  obscurity  in  writers  who  habitually  use 
a  condensed  style.  We  must  sometimes  repeat  words, 
to  be  accurate.  The  omission  of  words  needed  to  com- 
plete a  sentence  is  a  common  fault,  the  writers  thinking 
that  their  meaning  is  sufificiently  clear  ;  but  often  the 
longer  the  circuit  made,  and  the  more  words  employed, 
the  more  time  is  saved,  and  the  clearer  the  thought  is 
brought  out. 

"  Precision"  is  "  cutting  before" — "  making  accu- 
rate limits  ;"  and  while  it  tends  to  conciseness,  it  is 
still  not  precisely  conciseness,  which  is  rather  "cutting 
short,"  or  "  cutting  off."  "Conciseness,"  says  Vinet, 
"  is  distinguished  by  an  economy  of  words  greater  than 
the  object  of  precision  requires  ;  for  precision  only  sup- 
presses what  is  decidedly  superfluous,  and  would  spare 
the  mind  a  fatigue,  that  which  springs  from  the  necessity 
which  an  author  puts  upon  us  of  condensing  the  thought, 
or  reducing  it  to  a  few  elements.  Conciseness,  stopping 
short  of  what  is  necessary  to  complete  expression,  is  not 
designed,  doubtless,  to  fatigue  the  mind,  but  it  gives  it 
labor,  and  thus  it  enters  into  the  categorj^  of  those  pro- 
cedures or  figures  of  which  we  have  before  spoken.  It  is 
an  ellipsis,  not  of  words,  but  of  thoughts.  Taking  it  as 
a  figure,  or,  at  least,  as  a  particular  force  of  style,  it  can 


STYLE.  753 

hardly  constitute  the  form  of  an  entire  composition, 
especially  that  of  a  sermon.  It  is  too  apt  to  produce 
obscurity  ;  it  approaches  to  affectation  and  the  epigram- 
matic style.  It  is  often  but  the  false  semblance  of  pre- 
cision, and  nothing  is  easier  than  to  have  at  the  same 
time  much  conciseness  and  very  little  precision  ;  for 
it  is  possible  to  be  at  the  same  time  parsimonious  and 
prodigal,  and,  with  all  this  affectation  of  strictness,  to 
leave  only  vague  ideas  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  or 
hearer."  ' 

{c.)  By  a  verbal  diffuseness.  Precision  is  also  sometimes 
lost  in  too  great  expansion,  as  well  as  condensation  of  style. 
When  too  many  words  are  used,  when  the  texture  of  the 
style  wants  fibre,  when  it  is  loose  and  diffuse,  the  language 
is  no  longer  an  instrument  of  expressing  accurate  thought. 
Writers  who  have  an  easy  command  of  words,  a  native 
facility  of  expression,  are  greatly  tempted  to  accumulate 
words  about  the  thought,  so  as  to  hide  or  overload  it. 
Even  so  brilliant  a  writer  as  De  Quincey  errs  in  this  way. 
Such  a  style  is  especially  faulty  in  a  sermon.  What  may 
be  called  a  learned  diffuseness,  entering  wearisomely  into 
the  exposition  of  what  may  be,  after  all,  secondary  mat- 
ters— is  particularly  out  of  place  in  a  discourse  that  is  to 
operate  directly  on  the  conscience  and  the  will.  Precision 
of  style  is  especially  opposed  to  needless  repetitions, 
pleonasms,  and  expressions  that  add  nothing  to  the 
thought.  There  may  be,  at  times,  a  certain  rhetorical 
redundancy  which  is  the  genuine  expression  of  eloquent 
feeling,  a  heaping  up  of  epithets  in  the  warmth  of  onward 
discourse,  which  looks  like  careless  profusion  ;  but  there 
should  not  be  prolixity.  An  idea  should  not  lose  itself 
in  a  vague  sea  of  words.     There  cannot  be  much  expan- 

'  "  Homiletics,"  p.  382. 


754  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

sion  in  earnest  oratory  ;  it  must  sweep  on  to  the  end. 
Perhaps  there  is  no  one  thing  in  which  young  writers,  and 
we  may  say  preachers,  so  often  fail  as  in  condensation. 

id.')  By  disregarding  the  distinction  between  the  literal 
and  the  figurative  use  of  words.  The  accurate  use  of  re- 
ligious and  theological  terms  which  are  founded  upon 
figures  of  speech,  and  of  the  metaphorical  etymology  of 
important  words,  such  as  "  righteousness,"  "  depravity," 

virtue, "  "  holiness, ' '  etc. ,  would  be  desirable  ;  and  gen- 
erally the  figurative  language  of  Scripture  should  be  used 
with  accuracy.  This  language  has  a  meaning,  and  often  a 
more  intense  meaning  than  literal  language  can  express  ; 
and  it  may  be  so  profoundly  true  that  common  language 
breaks  down  with  the  weight  of  the  thought  or  the  truth 
to  be  conveyed,  and  it  seeks  the  figurative  form,  the 
Avings  of  the  imagination,  to  bear  it  up.  Nevertheless, 
figurative  language,  even  if  it  occur  in  Scripture,  should 
not  be  used  as  if  it  were  the  language  of  prosaic  literal- 
ness,  or  cold,  logical  statement. 

(/.)  By  want  of  precision  of  thought.  This  is,  doubt- 
less, the  chief  source  of  want  of  precision  of  style. 
Vague  expression  often  gets  the  credit  of  profound 
thought  ;  but  more  often  it  is  vague  because  the  thinking 
is  not  accurate  or  profound.  There  is  a  great  tempta- 
tion for  a  writer  or  speaker  to  express  a  half  idea  before  he 
has  thought  it  through,  or  detached  it  cleanly  from  all  other 
ideas.     Loose  thinking  and  loose  writing  go  together. 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  point  out  the  great  benefits 
of  precision  of  style.  It  conduces  to  the  vigor  of  the 
mental  habits  ;  it  promotes  clearness  and 
Benefits  cleanness  of  thought  ;  every  idea  is  care- 
.  .  fully  separated  from  every  other  idea  ;   noth- 

ing extraneous  is  left  clinging  to  it  ;  the 
style  acquires  almost   the    force    and    condensation    of 


STYLE.  755 

proverbs.  We  see  this  sometimes  in  Coleridge,  notwith- 
standing his  marked  faults  of  style  in  other  respects. 
"  Men  should  be  weighed,  not  counted."  "  The  most 
deceitful  are  the  most  suspectful."  Such  precise,  weighty 
phrases  now  and  then  occur  between  his  long  and  obscure 
sentences,  like  lumps  of  shining  gold. 

There  is  nothing  that  the  popular  mind  so  delights  in 
as  in  this  quality  of  precision,  for  it  sees  in  the  speaker  a 
power  which  it  does  not  itself  possess.  Precision,  too, 
marks  the  difference  between  a  true  and  a  spurious  style. 
A  true  style  has  genuine  ideas,  and  expresses  them  so 
that  they  cannot  be  misunderstood  ;  whereas  a  mock 
style  has  no  true  ideas,  and  makes  up  the  deficiency  in 
vague  and  grandiloquent  phrases.  In  religious  discourse 
this  stilted  and  false  style  is  particularly  hurtful.  Better 
have  the  simplest  and  most  common  thoughts,  clearly 
expressed,  than  what  Carlyle  calls  "  phosphorescent  punk 
and  nothingness."  Precision  is  peculiarly  the  style  of 
science,  but  it  need  not  for  that  reason  be  a  learned,  nor, 
above  all,  a  pedantic,  style. 

The  means  of  acquiring  precision   of  style  are,  briefly, 
{a.)  Think  precisely.     Bishop  Butler,  in  the  preface    to 
his  "  Sermons,"  says,  "  Confusion  and  per- 
plexity are,  in  writing,  indeed  without  ex-      ,         .  . 

,  -r    1  ,  of  acquiring 

cuse,  because  any  one  may,  if   he  pleases,     precision. 

know  whether  he  understands  or  sees  through 
what  he  is  about  ;  and  it  is  unpardonable  in  a  man  to  lay 
his  thoughts  before  others  when  he  is  conscious  that  he 
himself  does  not  know  whereabouts  he  is,  or  how  the 
matter  before  him  stands.  It  is  coming  abroad  in  dis- 
order, which  he  ought  to  be  dissatisfied  to  find  himself  in 
at  home."  ib.')  Think  on  abstruse  subjects.  Now  and 
then  the  mettle  of  the  mind  should  be  tried  on  the  most 
difificult  themes  ;  and  one  should  not  always  choose  easy 


75 6  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

themes,  or  treat  any  theme  easily,  {c.)  Make  use  of  pre- 
cise language  in  ordinary  conversation  and  writing.  Se- 
lect the  best  synonym  or  equivalent  word.  We  may  ex- 
perience a  sense  of  great  poverty  of  language  at  first ; 
but  language  is  a  special  study,  and  the  constant  use  of 
a  good  book  of  synonyms  may  aid  us.  (^.)  Study  the 
style  of  Bishop  Hall,  Lord  Jeffrey,  Archbishop  Whately, 
and,  in  many  respects,  Robert  South,  who  used  language 
accurately,  and  made  close  discriminations,  except  when 
in  a  passion.  The  language,  also,  of  some  of  the  best 
scientific  writers  of  the  day,  such  as  Huxley,  Darwin, 
Tyndall,  and  Faraday,  is  worthy  of  study,  in  respect  of 
its  exact  and  luminous  qualities. 

Precision  of  style  should  not  degenerate  into  stiffness 
or  pedantry,  and  thus  spoil  the  ease  and  flow  of  nature. 
Harms,  quoted  by  Tholuck,  says,  "  Let  the  preacher 
speak  negligently  and  incorrectly."  It  is  better  to  do 
even  that  than  to  lose  all  life  and  freedom  in  an  over- 
fastidious  attention  to  precise  correctness  of  language  ; 
so  that,  perhaps,  what  Cicero  calls  "  a  diligent  negli- 
gence" one  which  unites  correctness  with  freedom — will 
best  describe  the  true  style.  It  has  been  said  of  John 
Henry  Newman's  style,  which  is  almost  a  perfect  model 
in  some  respects  of  a  strong  and  yet  flexible  pulpit  style  : 
"  The  free,  unconstrained  movement  of  Dr.  Newman's 
style  tells  any  one  who  knows  what  writing  is,  of  a  very 
keen  and  exact  knowledge  of  the  subtle  and  refined  secrets 
of  language.  With  that  uncared-for  play  and  simplicity 
there  was  a  fulness,  richness,  a  curious  delicate  music, 
quite  instinctive  and  unsought  for,  withal  precision  and 
sureness  of  expression."  He  thus  united  the  two  seem- 
ingly opposing  elements  of  precision  and  freedom,  and 
moves  with  the  grace  and  strength  of  both  combined. 

(4,)  Perspicuity.       This  is  "  something   which   can   be 


STYLE.  757 

looked    through"   like  glass  ;     it    is    that    quality    which 

enables  the  hearer  to  comprehend  at  once, 

•  ,        •  11         1  Perspicuity, 

to  see  through,  the  idea  nitended  to  be  con- 
veyed. It  strives  to  make  the  thought  perfectly  intelli- 
gible to  the  hearer's  mind,  to  make  him  as  conscious  of  it 
as  is  the  speaker  himself,  so  that  he  may  sec  it  with  vivid 
distinctness.  This,  it  will  be  allowed  by  all,  is  an  essen- 
tial property  in  a  sermon,  since  no  one  is  apt  to  be  influ- 
enced by  a  truth  which  he  does  not  understand.  Its  op- 
posite is  obscurencss  and  ambiguity.  It  is  considered  by 
Vinet  to  be  the  first  quality  of  style — an  opinion  founded 
on  reason,  and  with  which  agree  the  words  of  Quintilian, 
''  Nobis  prima  sit  virtus  per spicuitas.''  It  is  not  the  only 
quality  of  style,  but  it  certainly  is  the  foundation  of  all. 
Perspicuity  may  be  violated — 

{a.^  In  relation  to  the  idea  itself.  It  may  not  be  a 
true,  a  rational  idea,  although  at  first  sight  seeming  to 
be  one  ;  or  it  may  be  a  true  idea  obscurely 

expressed  ;  or  it  may  be  a  truly  profound     °^  ''°  *  ^ 
.  .  ,.rn      y  *°  relation 

idea,  difficult  to  be   expressed  and  compre-    ^^  ^^^  j^^^ 

hended  from  its  real  depth.  It  has  been 
pronounced  the  greatest  effort  of  genius  to  make  abstract 
ideas  plain.  The  preacher  should  not  strive  to  be  so 
plain  as  to  become  insipid  ;  and  there  is  often  obscurity 
in  the  truth  itself,  for  mystery  is  a  source  of  power.  A 
stream  may  be  very  clear  and  very  shallow.  Thus  it  is 
that  the  preacher  of  the  infinite  truths  of  the  gospel  can- 
not always  make  himself  understood  by  every  one  in  his 
congregation,  though  that  certainly  should  be  his  aim. 
He  should  study  his  congregation  in  that  respect,  and 
should  strive  to  put  himself  in  the  place  of  his  hearer. 
His  style  should  be  "  just  high  enough  to  raise  his  audi- 
ence, and  just  low  enough  to  reach  them." 

{b.)  In   relation   to   the  language   in   which  the  idea  is 


75 S  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

conveyed.     This  may  refer   to    other   things,  as    to   the 
grammatical  confusion  in  the  construction  of 

n  re  a  ion     sentences,  or  to  the  use  of  words  which  do 

to  the 
language.     "°^  express  the  exact  sense  ;  but  generally  it 

refers  to  the  distinction  between  figurative 
and  literal  language,  the  neglect  of  which,  as  has  been 
suggested  in  another  relation,  is  one  of  the  most  fruitful 
sources  of  obscurity.  True  imagery,  discreetly  em- 
ployed, may  be  made  the  means  of  clearness  of  style,  for 
the  imagination  is  an  illumining  power,  and  the  ability  to 
use  appropriate  imagery  in  the  pulpit  is  often  the  ability 
to  flash  light  into  the  obscurest  depths  of  a  theme.  It  is 
the  imagination  playing  in  upon  the  argument,  or  the 
imagination  coming  with  her  torch  to  help  the  reason  in 
the  search  for  truth  ;  but  the  imagination  may,  through 
a  confusion  of  images,  destroy  perspicuity.  It  breaks,  as 
it  were,  the  mirror  at  which  we  look  into  many  frag- 
ments, giving  back  only  confusing  reflections. 
The  means  of  attaining  perspicuity  of  style  are — 
{a^  A  careful  attention  to  the  use  of  single  words. 
Connectives,  or  the  words  which  form  the  mechanical 
structure  of  a  sentence,  should  be  short,  plain 

words.      The  proper  use  of  adverbs  and  pro- 
of attaining 
perspicuity     "0""s,  in  relation   to   the   words   they  agree 

with,  is  to  be  carefully  attended  to  ;  for  the 
little  words  contribute  more  to  perspicuity  than  the 
larger  ;  they  are,  as  it  were,  the  pins  and  joints  which 
bind  a  sentence  together,  or  on  which  it  turns  and  moves. 
Here  care  should  be  bestowed.  Words  also  with  a 
plurality  of  meanings  should  be  used  only  in  such  con- 
nections as  to  exclude  all  but  the  meaning  intended. 
Words  which  have  two  or  more  senses  should  be  so  care- 
fully used  as  to  avoid  ambiguous  meanings.  In  like  man- 
ner the  same  word  should  not  be  used,  at  a  short  interval 


STYLE.  759 

of  separation,  In  different  significations.  And,  as  coming 
under  the  same  general  principle,  words  should  be  used 
in  their  most  common  and  best-understood  senses.  Here 
the  principle  of  propriety  or  fitness  in  the  use  of  language 
aids  perspicuity. 

{b.^  Attention  to  the  relations  of  qualifying  phrases  to 
each  other.  When  carelessly  collocated,  or  too  widely 
separated,  the  most  absurd  meanings  are  oftentimes 
produced. 

(c.)  The  avoiding,  as  much  as  possible,  of  the  extremes 
of  ellipsis  and  parenthesis.  All  involved  sentences, 
though  not  all  long  sentences,  are  to  be  avoided,  if  we 
would  seek  perspicuity. 

(<^.)  Care  not  to  change  the  construction  of  the  sen- 
tence too  abruptly,  so  as  to  lose  sight  of  the  subject 
or  the  object.  This  is  a  frequent  cause  of  ambiguity. 
Especially  in  making  comparisons  and  antitheses,  one 
should  avoid  the  use  of  dissimilar  constructions  in  set- 
ting forth  agreements  and  differences.  A  well-balanced 
comparison  conduces  to  perspicuity  of  style. 

(^.)  Attention  to  the  harmonious  construction  of  sen- 
tences. (See  remarks  of  Bulwer  Lytton,  in  his  "  Cax- 
tonia,"  Essay  VIII.,  on  "  Rhythm  in  Prose,  as  con- 
ducive to  Precision  and  Clearness.") 

(/■.)  The  avoiding  of  too  learned  and  scientific  phrase- 
ology. Were  every  sermon  a  concio  ad  cleruvi,  this  might 
be  a  merit  of  style,  because  it  would  be  addressed  to  an 
audience  that  could  understand  it  ;  it  would  be  to  them 
perspicuous  ;  but  the  preacher  who  talks  too  much 
of  "moral  necessity,"  "cognitive  faculties,"  "vo- 
lition," "  objective"  and  "  subjective,"  and  the  like,  does 
not  preach  like  Him,  who,  even  in  his  parables,  wherein  he 
purposely  hid  the  truth  from  the  unspiritual  mind,  used 
simple  language.    We  should  indeed  be  thought  destitute 


760  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

of  common  sense,  should  we  preach  like  the  opening  sen- 
tence of  Dr.  Thomas  Browne's  "  Essay  on  Christian 
Morals"  :  "  Tread  softly  and  circumspectly  in  this 
funambulatory  track  and  narrow  path  of  goodness  ;  pur- 
sue virtue  virtuously  ;  leaven  not  good  actions,  nor  ren- 
der virtues  disputable.  Stain  not  fair  acts  with  foul  in- 
tentions ;  maim  not  uprightness  by  halting  concomit- 
ances, nor  circumstantially  deprave  substantial  goodness. ' ' 

(^.)  The  avoidance  of  too  subjective  a  style.  The 
thought  may  be  too  subtle,  inner,  and  transcendental  for 
the  common  mind.  But  however  deep  it  may  be,  it  should 
be  brought  out  of  the  subjective  and  conceptional  state  of 
one's  own  mind  into  the  full  birth  and  light  of  objective 
reality,  where  it  can  be  seen  and  felt,  so  to  speak,  by 
others.  There  should  be  this  simplicity,  this  outward- 
ness, this  distinctive  form,  this  sensible  reality  in  style, 
which  makes  it  comprehensible  and  impressive  to  other 
minds  ;  which  makes  it  strike  other  minds  with  force. 

The  writings  of  Hume,  Locke,  Hobbes,  Dr.  Emmons, 

Daniel    Webster,    and     Archbishop    Whately    are    good 

models    of   perspicuity  ;    and    of   a    certain 

Models  of     beautiful    lucidness   of   style,  of    what    the 
perspicuity. 

French   call  clartd,  which   the    imagination 

makes  by  bodying  forth  its  ideas  in  forms  that  shine  as  in 

noonday  light.     Bunyan's    "  Pilgrim's    Progress"  is    an 

eminent  illustration. 

We  cannot  find  a  better  place  than  just  here  to  say  a 
word  on  the  best  style  for  the  pulpit  ;  because,  in  our  esti- 

Best  style  mation,  it  is  founded  especially  upon  this 
for  quality  of  perspicuity,  or,  in  the  commoner 

the  pulpit,  and  broader  term,  plainness.  The  style  of 
the  pulpit  should,  above  all,  be  a  plain  style.  This  is  the 
basis  of  everything  good  in  writing  and  speaking. 


STYLE.  761 

Let  us,  however,  preface  these  remarks  with  a  bit  of 
homilctical  history  from  Bishop  Burnet,  who  himself  is 
worthy  of  study  for  his  clear,  idiomatic  English.  He  says  : 
"  This  set  of  men  (Tillotson,  Lloyd,  and  others)  contrib- 
uted more  than  can  be  well  imagined  to  reform  the  way  of 
preaching  ;  which  among  the  divines  of  England  before 
them  was  overrun  with  pedantry,  a  great  mixture  of 
quotations  from  fathers  and  ancient  writers,  a  long  opening 
of  a  text  with  the  concordance  of  every  word  in  it,  and  a 
giving  all  the  different  expositions  with  the  grounds  of 
them  ;  and  the  entering  into  some  parts  of  controversy, 
and  all  concluding  in  some,  but  very  short,  practical  ap- 
plications, according  to  the  subject  or  the  occasion.  This 
was  both  long  and  heavy,  when  all  was  pye-balled,  full 
of  many  sayings  of  different  languages.  The  common 
style  of  sermons  was  either  very  flat  and  low,  or  swelled 
up  with  rhetoric  to  a  false  pitch  of  a  wrong  sublime. 
The  King  had  little  or  no  literature,  but  true  and  good 
sense  ;  and  had  got  a  right  notion  of  style  ;  for  he  was 
in  France  at  a  time  when  they  were  much  set  on  reform- 
ing their  language.  It  soon  appeared  that  he  had  a  true 
taste.  So  this  help'd  to  raise  the  value  of  these  men, 
when  the  King  approved  of  the  style  their  discourses 
generally  ran  in  ;  which  was  clear,  plain,  and  short. 
They  gave  a  short  paraphrase  of  their  text,  unless  where 
great  difificulties  required  a  more  copious  enlargement : 
But  even  then  they  cut  off  unnecessary  shows  of  learn- 
ing, and  applied  themselves  to  the  matter,  in  which  they 
opened  the  nature  and  reasons  of  things  :  so  fully,  and 
with  that  simplicity,  that  their  hearers  felt  an  instruc- 
tion of  another  sort  than  had  commonly  been  observed 
before.  So  they  became  very  much  followed  :  And 
a  set    of    these  men    brought    off  the  city  in    a    great 


762  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

measure  from  the   prejudices   they  had  formerly  to  the 
Church."  ^ 

We  see  even  by  this  brief  narrative  what  is  the  power 
of  a  plain,  comprehensible  style  to  interest  the  people, 
and  to  turn  the  tide  of  public  sentiment  in  whatever 
direction  the  speaker  may  choose. 

As  the  power  of  the  pulpit  consists  first  of  all  in  the 
presentation  of  truth  to  the  mind,  and  impels  and  moves 
to  the  obedience  of  God  through  the  influence  of  truth, 
the  truth  should  meet  the  mind  in  the  most  direct 
manner.  The  edge  of  truth  should  not  be  taken  off.  It 
should  smite  upon  the  mind  with  all  its  own  unmitigated 
force  and  sharpness.  Nothing  should  come  between  the 
truth  and  the  human  heart  to  prevent  the  full  power  of 
its  application.  So  then  it  is  the  first  responsibility  of 
the  preacher  to  make  truth  plain  to  the  understanding. 
This  he  should  strive  to  do,  to  the  sacrifice,  if  it  must  be, 
of  everything  else.  But  he  really  does  not  in  this  way 
sacrifice  anything  that  is  good,  since  honest  plainness 
is  the  foundation  of  all  other  excellencies.  Truth  in 
art,  and  truth  in  nature,  hold  up  everything.  In  the 
works  of  the  greatest  artists,  whether  of  the  plastic  arts 
or  of  literature,  there  will  be  found  a  certain  absolute 
simplicity  and  trueness  to  nature. 

Nature,  however  plain,  is  never  ugly,  is  never,  even  in 
a  Dutch  landscape,  absolutely  dull.  Truth  does  not  pall 
upon  the  taste  or  grow  insipid.  The  essential  element 
of  all  that  is  good  and  forcible  in  language,  then,  is  un- 
adulterated, unartificial  truth,  the  plainness  of  nature  and 
of  fact.  Carlyle  says  :  "  The  ultimate  rule  is.  Learn,  so  far 
as  possible,  to  be  intelligent  and  transparent — no  notice 
taken  of  your  style,  but  solely  of  what  you  express  by  it." 

An    older    writer   of    English — Dean    Swift  —  says: 

'  Burnet's  "  History-  of  His  Own  Time."    London  ed.  1724,  v.  i.  p.  191. 


STYLE.  763 

"  When  a  man's  thoughts  are  clear,  the  properest  words 
will  generally  offer  themselves  first,  and  his  own  judg- 
ment will  direct  him  in  what  order  to  place  them,  so  that 
they  may  be  best  understood."  Southey  remarks,  much 
in  the  same  vein,  that  "  The  readiest  and  plainest  style  is 
the  most  forcible  (if  the  head  be  but  properly  stored)  and 
in  all  ordinary  cases  the  word  which  first  presents  itself 
is  the  best."  In  regard  to  style,  we  have  come  to  think 
that  absolutely  the  first  thing  to  care  for  is  tlic  reality 
of  tilings  entirely  regardless  of  the  Greek  ideal  of  beauty. 
That  comes  as  the  indefinable  result  of  knowledge  and 
culture  ;  but  as  in  religion,  theories  and  theological  ideals 
are  of  less  importance  than  elemental  truths — the  spirit 
and  the  feeling  and  the  fact  that  lie  beneath  them — so  in 
style,  the  main  substance  of  style  should  be  real  not 
ideal,  should  be  the  groundwork  of  solid  truth. 

This  idea  of  style  is  opposed  to  what  is  commonly 
called  fine  tvrititig,  though  not  to  forcible,  fresh,  and  even 
brilliant  writing  ;  whose  brilliancy,  however,  should  be 
more  in  the  thought,  in  the  imagination  even  it  may  be, 
than  in  the  words.  That  kind  of  style  which  sacrifices  the 
simple,  the  clear,  the  true,  for  what  is  artificial  and 
rhetorical,  in  the  bad  sense  of  the  term  ;  which  strives 
continually  to  be  effective,  or  what  is  called  eloquent,  by 
appealing  to  the  outward  sensibilities  and  fancy,  rather 
than  to  the  reason  and  the  sincere  feelings  of  the  heart 
and  the  nobler  imagination  ;  which  is  vulgarly  startling 
and  lacks  all  repose  ;  which  allows  of  no  pathos  ;  which  has 
no  trust  in  the  simple  power  of  the  plainest  statement  ; 
which,  above  all,  is  confused  and  unintelligible  because 
so  constantly  on  the  strain  for  smart  or  showy  things  ; 
this  certainly  is  a  false  pulpit  style. 

In  the  sensational  style,  the  condition  of  using  this  mode 
of  discourse  is  that  "  you  can  strike  but  once.     The  sec- 


764  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

ond  stroke  is  but  a  repetition  or  imitation."  This  style 
should  appear  anywhere  but  in  the  pulpit.  The  power 
and  impressiveness  of  the  great  realities  of  religion  are 
lost  in  such  a  highly-wrought  and  artificially-stimulated 
preaching  which  prevents  the  natural  action  of  the  hear- 
er's own  mind,  and  destroys  its  power  of  thought  and 
of  thoughtful  receptivity. 

We  have  lost  much  of  our  former  confidence  in  what  is 
called  the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit.  Such  eloquence  has 
ceased  to  have  power  and  is  not  eloquent,  while  what  is 
true,  what  is  simple,  what  is  the  exact  fact,  what  is  the 
bare  verity  respecting  God  and  the  soul,  the  law  of  God, 
repentance,  Christ  and  his  cross,  faith,  the  experience  of 
the  heart,  its  real  trial,  and  doubt,  and  fear,  and  sin,  and 
hope,  living  truth  in  fine,  and  the  plain  earnest  thought 
or  feeling  which  correlates  this,  is  eloquent.  By  not  seek- 
ing to  be  eloquent  or  meaning  to  be  eloquent,  a  man  be- 
comes eloquent.     It  is  the  thing  and  not  its  semblance. 

Let  us  recall  what  Augustine  said  of  the  style  of  the 
pulpit  : 

"  WJien  the  preacher  has  to  set  forth  great  subjects  he 
should  not  always  speak  of  them  in  a  lofty  style,  but 
modestly  {submisse)  ;  when  he  praises  or  blames  any- 
thing, with  moderation.  .  .  .  Ought  he  who  speaks 
of  the  Unity  of  the  Trinity  to  speak  in  any  other  way 
than  in  a  modest  method  of  discussion  {submissa  dispiita- 
tione),  that  a  matter  difficult  to  comprehend  may  be 
understood  as  well  as  possible  ?  Are  ornaments  to  be 
sought  here  and  not  teaching  ?"  Again  Augustine  says  : 
"  It  is  better  that  the  learned  should  find  fault  than  that 
the  people  should  not  understand." 

Another  preacher,  Antonio  Vieyra,  of  Portugal,  who  is 
called  "  the  last  of  the  mediaeval  preachers,"  and  who  was 
one  of  the  most  effective  though  quaint  preachers  of  any 


STYLE.  7^5 

age,  having  a  remarkably  direct,  interesting,  and  popular 
style,  thus  discourses  on  the  necessity  of  a  preacher's 
making  himself  intelligible,  as  the  first  quality  of  good 
preaching  ;  and  what  he  says  holds  good  at  the  present 
day  ;  "  Let  us  hear  from  the  heavens  the  way  in  which 
we  are  to  arrange  our  matter  and  our  words.  How  ought 
our  words  to  be  ?  Like  the  stars.  The  stars  are  very  dis- 
tinct and  very  clear.  So  should  be  the  style  of  sermons, 
very  clear  and  very  distinct,  and  have  no  fear  lest  on  this 
account  it  should  appear  low  and  vulgar  ;  the  stars,  clear 
and  distinct  as  they  are,  are  most  lofty.  Style  may  be 
very  clear  and  very  lofty  ;  so  clear  that  those  who  are 
ignorant  may  understand  it  ;  and  so  lofty  that  those  who 
are  wise  may  have  much  to  find  out  in  it.  The  country- 
man finds  in  the  stars  rules  for  his  husbandry,  and  the 
mathematician  for  his  observations  and  judgments.  So 
that  the  countryman  and  the  sailor  who  can  neither  read 
nor  write,  understand  the  stars  ;  and  the  mathematician 
who  has  read  every  book  that  was  ever  written,  does  not 
obtain  to  the  complete  understanding  of  the  constella- 
tions. So  a  sermon  might  be  ;  stars  that  all  can  see,  and 
very  few  measure. 

"'Yes,  father;  but  this  way  of  preaching  is  not  the 
cultivated  style.'  I  wish  it  were.  This  unfortunate 
style  w^hich  is  nowadays  the  fashion,  is  called  cultivated 
by  those  who  wish  to  honor  it,  and  obscure  by  those  who 
condemn  it.  But  even  the  latter  do  it  too  much  honor. 
Is  it  possible  that  we  are  Portuguese,  and  can- 
not understand  what  he  means  ?  As  there  is  a  lexicon 
for  Greek,  and  a  Calepenas  for  Latin,  so  we  want  a 
vocabulary  for  the  pulpit.  I  could  wish  one,  at  least,  for 
proper  names  ;  for  our  cultivated  preachers  have  un- 
baptized  the  saints,  and  every  author  whom  they  quote 
is  an  enigma.     Thus  they  speak  of  the  Penitent  Sceptre  ; 


766  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

thus  of  the  EvangeHstic  Apelles  ;  thus  of  the  Eagle  of 
Africa,  of  the  Honeycomb  of  Clairvaux,  of  the  Purple  of 
Bethlehem,  of  the  Mouth  of  Gold.  And  this  they  call 
quoting  !  They  say  that  the  Penitent  Sceptre  means 
David  ;  as  if  no  other  sceptre  ever  felt  penitence  ;  that 
the  Evangelistic  Apelles  is  St.  Luke  ;  the  Honey-comb 
of  Clairvaux,  St.  Bernard  ;  the  Eagle  of  Africa,  St.  Au- 
gustine ;  the  Purple  of  Bethlehem,  St.  Jerome  ;  the 
Mouth  of  Gold,  St.  Chrysostom.  But  a  man  might  take 
it  another  way,  and  think  that  the  Purple  of  Bethlehem 
was  Herod  ;  the  Eagle  of  Africa,  Scipio  ;  the  Mouth  of 
Gold,  Midas.  If  there  were  an  advocate  who  thus  quoted 
Bartholus  or  Baldus,  would  you  trust  your  cause  in  his 
hands  ?  If  there  were  a  man  who  thus  spoke  in  conversa- 
tion, would  you  not  consider  him  a  fool  ?  That,  then, 
which  is  folly  in  conversation,  why  should  it  be  wisdom 
in  the  pulpit  ?" 

We  repeat  this  last  question  of  the  witty  and  yet  de- 
voted Vieyra,  who,  while  a  missionary,  preached  the 
famous  "  Sermon  to  the  Fishes"  in  imitation  of  St. 
Anthony,  and  who  had  the  rare  art  of  "  getting  hold  of 
the  people,"  without  ever  descending  to  vulgarity  ;  why 
indeed  should  we  use  words  in  the  pulpit  essentially  differ- 
ent from  those  we  use  in  conversation,  granting  only  the 
differences  between  a  common  and  private  and  a  more 
formal  and  public  occasion.  We  say  "  essentially,"  for 
some  difference  there  must  be  between  the  teaching  and 
the  talking  styles,  so  far  as  precision  and  purity  of  lan- 
guage go  ;  and  we  should  say  that  a  man  was  a  very  pre- 
cise and  oracular  person,  who  talked  just  as  he  would 
speak,  with  the  same  care  in  the  selection  of  his  words, 
the  arrangement  of  his  sentences,  and  the  logical  order  of 
his  thoughts.  But  the  comparison  holds  good,  neverthe- 
less ;  as  a  general  rule  the  same  plain,  sensible,  natural 


STYLE.  767 

language  in  the  one  is  suited  to  the  other.  Learned 
words  are  to  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible  in  both 
cases.  It  shows  really  more  skill  to  use  simple  language 
than  bookish  language,  and  it  takes  sometimes  a  great 
effort  and  a  long  discipline  to  be  natural. 

"Words  in  daily  use  but  not  vulgar, "  is  the  rule  ; 
otherwise  preaching  may  become  to  the  greater  part  of 
the  audience  what  Addison'was  wont  to  call  "  high  non- 
sense." We  should  use  idiomatic  English,  not  altogether 
Saxon,  but  rich  and  composite  English,  instead  of  the 
glittering  Ciceronian  style,  which  is  a  cumbrous  armor  to 
nimble  thought.  This  plain  style,  this  real  style,  com- 
bined with  naturalness  and  directness,  with  a  glow  and 
earnestness  of  thought,  is  the  true  one  for  the  preacher 
who  wishes  to  be  understood  and  to  do  good.  This  is 
the  style  of  the  best  speaking  in  and  out  of  the  pulpit. 
Let  the  preacher's  thought  be  clear  and  weighty,  that  is 
the  principal  thing  ;  but  then  what  a  real  beauty  it  is 
when  he  is  able  to  express  such  solid  thought  simply  and 
naturally,  so  that  even  the  ignorant  person  can  have  the 
benefit  of  it.  Sometimes  this  cannot  be  done,  we  grant, 
where  the  subject  is  abstruse,  but  what  a  triumph  of 
mind  it  is,  when  it  is  done  ! 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  everything  in  a  sermon 
should  be  upon  a  level  of  everybody's  comprehension  ; 
it  was  Baxter's  plan  to  say  something  in  every  sermon 
which  should  be  a  little  above  the  ideas  and  thoughts  of 
his  audience,  or,  as  his  expression  was,  to  overtop  them, 
in  order  to  arouse  their  attention  and  inquiry,  and  to  lift 
them  out  of  their  stereotyped  way  of  thinking.  In  this 
way  he  would  teach  them  something  that  they  did  not 
know  before.  This  may  be  done,  and  at  the  same  time 
a  preacher's  style  of  speaking  and  writing  may  be  plain 
and  comprehensible. 


768  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

It  is  almost  always  the  case  that  when  one  begins  to 
write  or  to  speak,  he  thinks  that  he  must  assume  a 
peculiar  style,  that  he  must  say  a  thing  in  a  different  way 
from  what  he  would  say  the  same  thing  were  he  simply 
talking.  When  he  talks  he  is  himself,  when  he  writes  or 
speaks  he  becomes  an  entirely  different  man — he  is 
Macaulay,  or  Carlyle,  or  Wendell  Phillips,  or  Phillips 
Brooks,  or  Dr.  Hall,  or  Di*.  Storrs,  or  perhaps  some 
clergyman  of  note  whom  he  is  accustomed  to  hear,  or  to 
regard  as  a  model.  Thus  reflex  action  must  go  on  in  his 
mind  in  order  to  bring  him  to  a  natural  style.  He  must 
become  conscious  of  his  not  being  himself  in  his  style, 
and  then  by  a  strong  exertion  of  will  he  must  come  to 
the  use  of  a  style  in  which  he  is  conscious  that  he  is  him- 
self, and  no  other  man  ;  thus  study,  art,  effort  are  re- 
quired to  enable  a  man  to  write  and  speak  well,  to  acquire 
a  good,  clear,  and  effective  style. 

There  are  some  fine  points  of  pulpit  style  worthy  of 

study  in  J.  H.  Newman's  (now  Cardinal  New- 

T    H  > 

•'■     ■  man's)  earlier  preaching,  as,  for  example,  his 

Newman's  ,<  t^,    .            ,    t^         1      1  V-                  .» 

style  Plam  and  Parochial  Sermons,      to  which 

we  have   before  more  than    once   referred. 

To  adapt  to  our  purpose  and  to  add  somewhat  to 
the  remarks  of  an  English  review  concerning  Newman's 
pulpit  style,  we  would  say  of  it,  that  there  is  a  free 
and  unconstrained  movement  in  his  sermons  showing  a 
very  keen  and  exact  knowledge  of  the  subtle  and  refined 
secrets  of  language.  With  that  uncared-for  play  and  sim- 
plicity there  is  also  a  fulness,  a  richness,  and  a  curious 
delicate  music,  quite  instinctive  and  unsought  for.  There 
is  also  precision  and  sureness  of  expression.  It  is  grace- 
ful with  the  grace  of  nerve  and  strength. 

The  form  and  the  matter  are  connected  in  the  sermons, 
as  in  all  works  of  a  high  order,  and  the  matter  makes  and 


STYLE.  769 

shapes  the  form.  There  is  a  shrinking  from  personal  dis- 
play and  ornament,  and  the  power  of  the  great  realities 
of  religion  absorbs  and  overcomes  the  human  personality. 
He  is  deeply  influenced  by  the  tremendous  and  impene- 
trable vastness  of  that  by  which  we  are  surrounded,  the 
greatness  of  human  life,  the  individuality  of  the  soul,  the 
mysteries  of  our  present  being.  This  keeps  his  style  sub 
dued  and  impersonal.  He'does  not  preach  dogmatically, 
but  calls  forth  what  is  really  meant  by  the  truths  and 
doctrines  of  religion,  and  puts  beside  them  the  human 
character  and  its  trials,  as  a  piercing  and  sympathizing 
eye  sees  them.  He  thus  preaches,  though  often  pro- 
foundly yet  so  as  to  be  understood  and  felt.  He  does 
not  contemplate  the  heart  in  stiff  and  formal  ways.  He 
touches,  pierces,  and  gets  hold  of  the  mind.  There  is  a 
thorough-going  reality  of  meaning  and  fulfillment  in  his 
style.  There  is  intense  conviction  and  directness  of 
purpose  combined  with  clearness,  originality,  and  perfec- 
tion on  the  purely  literary  side  of  preaching.  He  is  not 
an  orator,  a  declaimer,  like  the  French  preachers,  but  he 
is  direct,  straightforward,  unconventional.  There  is  noth- 
ing forced.  It  is  pure  thought  and  pure  fact.  There  are 
no  pomp,  nor  artificial  solemnity,  nor  making-believe 
difficulties,  no  needless  preliminaries,  nor  exaggerated 
statements,  nor  conventional  pictures.  His  sermons  do 
not  seem  to  be  intended  to  convince  only,  or  to  be  simply 
addressed  to  the  reason  and  intelligence,  but  to  the  heart 
and  soul,  with  their  burdens.  Here  he  was  superior  to 
Whately  and  all  merely  intellectual  and  argumentative 
preachers.  While  there  is  much  of  refined  and  scholarly 
writing,  there  is  plain  counsel,  clear  setting  forth  of  high 
principle,  and  manly  encouragement  to  duty.  There  is 
the  calm,  clear,  and  lucid  expression,  strong  in  grasp, 
measured  in  statement,  too  serious  to  be  considered  in 


77°  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

the  light  of  rhetorical  beauty  or  criticism,  but  possessing 
at  the  same  time  every  merit  of  style.  It  is  an  uncon- 
scious rather  than  self-conscious  style. 

A  word  in  conclusion  might  be  said  here  upon  z.  prose 
style  for  the  pulpit  in  contradistinction  from  a  poetic  style. 

A  prose  style  is  more  exact,  direct,  pointed, 
Prose  style.  .  .  . 

and  simple  than   a  poetic  style.      It  is  also 

logical.  There  is  more  that  is  real  and  less  that  is 
vague  in  it.  The  poetic  genius  shows  itself  often  in  prose 
to  enrich  it,  but  the  poetic  diction  should  be  banished 
from  prose  writing,  though  even  Milton  erroneously 
thought  that  it  added  to  the  force  of  prose  writing.  It 
should  be  banished  excepting  in  highly  picturesque  de- 
scription, or  in  the  impassioned  passages  of  an  argument. 
In  the  best  novel  writing,  and  in  descriptive  essays  like 
those  of  Ruskin  and  Taine  on  subjects  of  art,  and  perhaps 
very  rarely  in  oratory,  the  feeling,  the  rhythm,  and  the 
picturesque  vividness  of  poetic  expression  may  be  al- 
lowed, but  there  is  generally  no  surer  evidence  of  a 
weak  or  vicious  prose  style  than  a  tendency  to  indulge 
in  poetic  diction  which  runs  almost  at  times  into  poetic 
metre,  which  seeks  the  flowing  period,  which  abounds  in 
florid  metaphor,  which  loves  exaggeration  and  intense 
expression,  which  indulges  in  alliteration  and  such  artifi- 
cial tricks,  and  which,  to  sum  up  all,  makes  use  of  ambi- 
tious and  stilted  language. 

Sometimes  a  young  writer  thinks  it  to  be  the  perfection 
of  good  writing  to  use  these  uncommon  words,  and  fears 
lest  people  may  put  him  down  as  commonplace,  or  as  no 
deep  thinker,  or  scholar,  if  he  uses  words  such  as  are  com- 
monly employed  among  well-speaking  men  and  women. 
He  supposes  that  those  unusual  forms  of  speech  are  proofs 
of  elegant  literary  culture,  when  precisely  the  opposite  is 
true,  and  they  are  generally  the  sign  of  crudeness  and  of 


STYLE.  771 

an  unformed  taste.  The  beauty  of  style  is  to  have  good 
thoughts,  it  may  be  uncommon  and  powerful  thoughts, 
and  to  express  them  in  a  clear  and  natural  way,  though, 
as  we  have  said  before,  there  may  be  exceptions  to  this 
rule.  Genius,  it  is  said,  has  no  rules.  But,  above  all,  let 
us  have  the  genuine  article,  let  us  not  have  the  sem- 
blance, the  counterfeit.  Be  real,  even  if  you  express 
yourselves  in  a  rude  and  awkward  manner.  A  man  in 
homespun  is  better  than  a  manikin  in  broadcloth  with  a 
fortune  of  jeweller's  rings  and  gold  chains  suspended  from 
his  insignificant  person.  In  these  remarks  we  would  not 
lose  sight  of  the  capabilities  of  our  language  to  express 
fine  shades  of  meaning,  warm  colorings  of  sentiment  and 
more  nice  and  unusual  elaborations  of  thought,  springing 
from  deeper  and  more  hidden  qualities  of  mind  than  the 
plain  logical  understanding.  Still,  the  language  which  is 
expressive  even  of  poetical  and  imaginative  thought 
should  remain  the  language  of  prose.  Some  writers  like 
Jeremy  Taylor  and  De  Quincey  have  given  us  prose 
poems. 

But  in  the  sermon  the  imagination  should  show  itself 
in  a  general  vitalizing,  or  idealizing,  graphic  power,  rather 
than  in  a  florid,  over-WTought  and  highly  metaphorical 
style. 

Hear  what  an  old  English  writer  says:  "It  would 
be  fit  that  some  time  be  spent  in  learning  rhetoric  or 
oratory,  to  the  intent  that  upon  all  occasions  you 
may  express  yourself  with  eloquence  and  grace  ;  for, 
as  it  is  not  enough  for  a  man  to  have  a  diamond  unless  it 
is  polished  and  cut  into  its  due  angles,  whereby  it  may 
the  better  transmit  and  vibrate  its  native  lustre  and 
rays,  so  it  will  not  be  sufficient  for  a  man  to  have 
a  great  understanding  in  all  matters  unless  the  under- 
standing  be    not   only   polished    and   clear,   but    under- 


772  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

set  and  holpen  a  little  with  those  figures,  tropes,  and 
colors  which  rhetoric  affords,  where  there  is  use  of  per- 
suasion. I  can  by  no  means  yet  commend  an  affected 
eloquence,  there  being  nothing  so  pedantic,  or  indeed 
that  would  give  more  suspicion  that  the  truth  is  not  in- 
tended, than  to  use  overmuch  the  forms  prescribed  in 
schools. 

"  It  is  well  said  by  them  that  there  are  two  parts  of  elo- 
quence necessary  and  recommendable  ;  one  is,  to  speak 
hard  things  plainly,  so  that  when  a  knotty  or  intricate 
business,  having  no  method  or  coherence  in  its  parts,  shall 
be  presented,  it  will  be  a  singular  part  of  oratory  to  take 
those  parts  asunder,  set  them  together  aptly,  and  so  ex- 
hibit them  to  the  understanding. 

"  And  this  part  of  rhetoric  I  much  commend  to  every- 
body, there  being  no  true  use  of  speech  but  to  make 
things  clear,  perspicuous,  and  manifest,  which  otherwise 
would  be  perplexed,  doubtful,  and  obscure."  ^ 

Dr.  Johnson,  himself  a  conspicuous  violator  of  plain 
simplicity  (though  unnecessarily  so,  for  he  could  write 
clear,  terse  English  when  he  chose),  has  also  spoken 
of  a  style  which  meets  the  common  demands  of  every- 
day life  in  its  business  and  professions,  very  much  to 
the  same  point.  He  says  :  "  There  is  in  every  nation 
a  style  which  never  becomes  obsolete,  a  certain  mode 
of  phraseology  so  consonant  to  the  analogy  and  prin- 
ciples of  its  respective  language,  as  to  remain  settled 
and  unaltered.  This  style  is  to  be  sought  in  the  com- 
mon intercourse  of  life  among  those  who  speak  only 
to  be  understood,  without  ambition  or  elegance.  The 
polite  are  always  catching  modish  innovations,  and  the 
learned  forsake  the  vulgar,  when  the  vulgar  is  right  ;  but 

•  Edward  Lord  Herbert,  "  Autobiography." 


STYLE.  773 

there  is  a  conversation  above  grossness  and  below  refine- 
ment, where  propriety  resides." 

(5.)  Energy.  This  is  sometimes  called  "strength," 
sometimes  "effect,"  sometimes  "nerve," 
and  sometimes  "vividness"  of  style;  but 
the  old  Aristotelian  word  'EvEpyua  expresses  it  best. 
It  is,  without  doubt,  the  most  important  quality  of 
style,  without  which  all  the  others  are  of  little  account. 
It  springs  from  profounder  spiritual  sources  within  the 
man  than  even  perspicuity,  and  belongs  to  that  force 
of  nature,  thought,  and  character,  that  are  peculiarly 
personal.  If  the  preacher  of  God's  salvation  shows  no 
energy  in  his  speech,  he  had  better  hold  the  plough  or 
stand  behind  the  counter  all  his  life. 

Energy  is  that  quality  which  gives  a  sense  of  power  in 
the  speaker  and  in  the  truth   which   he  speaks,  and  thus 
forces  attention  to  the  subject  in  hand,  and 
stamps  it  upon  the  mind  of  the  hearer.   The   definition  of 

f  r         1      •  ,        enere:y. 

great  source  of  energy  of  style  is  energy  of 

feeling  and  energy  of  thought.  Strong  thought  makes  a 
strong  style.  Energy  is,  above  all,  a  subjective  quality, 
but  it  is  ultimately,  in  the  preacher,  the  power  of  feeling 
and  expressing  divine  truth,  so  that  the  energy  of  the 
preacher  of  divine  truth  may  be  said  in  a  true  sense  to 
come  from  God  himself. 

"  He  who  can  speak  well,"  Luther  said,  "  is  a  man." 
Energy  in  style  is  the  product  of  a  vigorous  and  well- 
trained  mind.  And  the  state  of  the  mind  at  the  time  of 
writing  is  an  important  consideration— the  interest  felt  in 
the  subject,  the  vivid  conception  of  the  theme,  and  the 
strength  of  purpose  and  of  aim.  As  we  have  said,  strong 
thought  will  make  a  strong  style.  A  trumpet  blast  cannot 
come  out  of  a  reed,  even  though,  as  Pascal  says,  it  is  "  a 
reed    that  thinks."     There  must  be  the  energy  of  soul 


774  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

before  energy  of  expression.  Yet,  although  there  must 
be  this  original  force  of  mind  for  great  energy  of  style, 
there  are  certain  legitimate  rhetorical  helps  to  the  pro- 
duction of  that  great  and  noble  quality.  The  speech  of 
the  pulpit  should  be,  above  all,  energetic. 

The  means  of  attaining  energy  of  style  may  be  divided 
into  two  :  The  fit  use  of  words,  and  the  fig- 
Means  of     urative  use  of  words. 

attaining         i.  The  fit  use  of  words.     Generally  speak- 
energy  of      .  ,  .     . 

style— fit  use  '"S'  ^        ^^  ^"  observance   of  all  the   other 
of  words,      properties  of  language  and  style  which  have 
been  mentioned,  fusing  them  together  by  the 
heat  and  power  of  a  strong  purpose  ;  but,  more  definite- 
ly,  it  consists  of   three  particulars — the   kind,    number, 
and  arrangement  of  words  in  sentences, 
(i)  Kind  or  choice  of  words. 

(«.)  The  use  of  short   Saxon  words.      The   energy  of 
Carlyle's  style  arises  chiefly  from  his  use  of 

rugged  Saxon  words,  some  of  them  so  old  as 
or  choice  of 
words        ^°  ^^  new.     Macaulay  also  often  exemplifies 

this  :  "  You  must  dig  deep  if  you  would 
build  high."  Herbert  Spencer,  in  his  "  Essay  on  Style," 
has  some  interesting  remarks  on  the  use  of  Saxon  words, 
as  economizing  strength  and  time,  thus  adding  force,  or, 
as  his  expression  is,  "  economizing  the  recipient's  atten- 
tion." In  fact,  the  great  source  of  power  in  style,  ac- 
cording to  Spencer,  is  economy  of  words.' 

{b.^  The  use  of  specific  instead  of  generic  words.  The 
latter  may  be  often  necessary,  but  the  former  give  vivid- 
ness. Dr.  Campbell  says,  "  The  more  general  the  terms 
are,  the  picture  is  fainter  ;  the  more  special  they  are,  the 
brighter."    "Rome  fell,"    is  more    forcible  than    "The 


'  "  Essays,"  pp.  12-15. 


STYLE.  775 

Roman  empire  came  to  an  end."  "The  beauty  that 
was  Greece,  and  the  grandeur  that  was  Rome,"  might 
be  generalized  and  weakened.  The  use  of  specific 
instead  of  abstract  words  saves  the  hearer  the  delay  of 
thinking  what  the  abstract  term  signifies,  and  thus  con- 
duces to  rapidity  and  energy  of  impression.  As  a  general 
maxim  of  style,  therefore,  concrete  words  are  better  than 
abstract. 

{c.)  The  use  of  words  whose  sound  corresponds  to  their 
sense,  thus  giving  a  more  vivid  force,  and  helping  the 
hearer  to  catch  the  thought  through  the  sense  as  well  as 
through  the  reason. 

{d.)  The  use  of  common  and  natural,  instead  of  tech- 
nical, words.       The    theological    style    contains    stereo- 
typed words  and  phrases  which  diminish  energy  and  pro- 
mote dulness,  because  they  sound  too  familiar  to  some 
persons  and    too   abstruse  to  others.      Religious   ideas, 
ideas  clothed  in  fresh,  simple,  and  natural  words,  seem 
like   new   truth,    and    have  great   power   and   attraction 
for  the  popular  mind.     Any  suggestion  of  the  artificial 
indicates   weakness.      Thus    too    much    antithesis   tends 
to  produce  a  cold  style.     You  hear  the  first  statement, 
which   is   put    into   an    antithetic  form,  and  you  wait  in 
a  critical  state  of  mind  to  hear  the  corresponding  sen- 
tence.    It  is  a. purely  intellectual  process.     Macaulay's 
style  may  dazzle  the  mind,  but  it  does  not  often   touch 
the  heart  ;    for   men  are   jealous  of   the   appearance  of 
art. 

(2)  Number  of  words. 

It  is  a  general  principle  that  brevity  gives  strength. 

' '  Si  gravis,  brevis. ' '    The  utmost  conciseness 

^  .  ,       ,  ..  Number 

consistent  with  clearness  promotes  energy.      ^^  ^Q^ds. 

Too  many  connectives,  expletives,  and  qual- 

ificatives   weaken    style  ;    those   are    better   fitted    for  a 


77<»  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

descriptive  than  an  oratorical  style.     "  The  orator,"  says 
Quintilian,  "  cannot  use  goldsmith's  scales." 

To  have,  or  to  seem  to  have,  a  fine  command  of  lan- 
guage— "  a  flow  of  words" — is  the  temptation  of  young 
writers  ;  but  after  a  thought  is  once  sufficiently  ex- 
pressed, everything  added  weakens  the  sentence,  though 
there  may  be  a  little  more  of  diffuseness  allowed  in  oral 
than  in  written  language.  Conciseness  is  violated  by  all 
tautological  and  circumlocutory  phrases.  Sentences 
should  be  recast  until  those  enfeebling  redundancies  dis- 
appear. And  the  same  may  be  said  in  regard  to 
thoughts.  "  In  the  choice  of  competent  ideas,  or  in  the 
choice  of  expressions,  the  aim  must  be  to  convey  the 
greatest  amount  of  thoughts  with  the  smallest  quantity 
of  words."  ' 

We  would  here  quote  a  suggestive  passage  from  a 
modern  English  author  on  the  proper  style  for  the  orator, 
in  contradistinction  from  that  of  the  writer  or  essayist  : 

"  The  genius  of  oratory  is  more  irregular  and  abrupt  ; 
it  is  akin  to  that  of  the  drama,  inasmuch  as  it  does  not 
address  men  one  by  one,  each  in  his  quiet  study,  but  as 
a  miscellaneous  audience,  which  requires  to  be  kept 
always  verging  toward  that  point  at  which  attention  re- 
lieves its  pressure  by  the  vent  of  involuntary  applause. 
To  move  numbers  simultaneously  collected  the  passions 
appealed  to  must  be  those  which  all  men  have  most  in 
common  ;  the  arguments  addressed  to  reason  must  be 
those  which,  however  new  or  embellished,  can  be  as 
quickly  comprehended  by  men  of  plain  sense  as  by  re- 
fined casuists  and  meditative  scholars.  Elaborate  though 
Cicero's  orations  are,  they  are  markedly  distinct  in  style 
from  his  philosophical  prelections.     The  essayist  quietly 


'  Herbert  Spencer's  "  Essays,"  p.  35. 


STYLE.  777 

affinns  a  proposition  ;  the  orator  vehemently  asks  a 
question.  'You  say  so  and  so,'  observes  the  essayist 
about  to  refute  an  opponent.  '  Do  you  mean  to  tell  us 
so  and  so  ? '  demands  the  impassioned  orator.  The 
writer  asserts  that  '  the  excesses  of  Catiline  became  at 
last  insupportable  even  to  the  patience  of  the  senate.' 
'  How  long  will  you  abuse  our  patience,  Catiline  ?  '  ex- 
claims the  orator.  And  an  orator  who  could  venture  to 
commence  an  exordium  with  a  burst  so  audaciously 
abrupt,  needs  no  other  proof  to  convince  a  practical  pub- 
lic speaker  how  absolute  must  have  been  his  command 
over  his  audience.  What  sympathy  in  them,  and  what 
discipline  of  voice,  manner,  countenance  in  himself,  were 
essential  for  the  successful  license  of  so  fiery  a  burst  into 
the  solemnity  of  formal  impeachment  ! 

"Oratory,  like  the  drama,  abhors  lengthiness  ;  like 
the  drama,  it  must  keep  doing.  It  avoids  as  frigid,  pro- 
longed metaphysical  soliloquy.  Beauties  themselves,  if 
they  delay  or  distract  the  effect  which  is  the  great  end  of 
oratory,  should  be  disregarded."  ' 

(3)  Arrangement  of  words. 

This   is  an  important    point    in   respect   of   energy  of 

style.       The    Greek    and    Latin    languages, 

throufrh  the  variety  of  their  inflections,  are     "^"gemen 

,  of  words, 

remarkable  for  the  energy  attained  by  the 

simple  arrangement  of  words  in  sentences.     That  is  often 
a  key  to  their  significance. 

The  forcible  arrangement  of  a  sentence  is  promoted — 
(rt.)  By  a  regard  to  the  preservation  of  its  unity.    How- 
ever manifold  the  form   of  the  parts,  there  should  be  no 
doubt,  from   the  clear  arrangement  of  the  sentence,  what 
is  the  main  idea,  what  is  the  unifying  thought.     That  is 


'  Sir  E.  Buhver  Lytton's  "Caxtonia,"  p.  94. 


778  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

not  to  be  broken  up  ;  for  "  nothing  broken,"  it  has  been 
well  said,  "  can  be  projected  with  the  force  of  a  whole 
body. ' ' 

ib.)  By  the  periodic  structure  of  the  sentence.  A  pe- 
riodic structure  is  one  in  which  the  important  thought 
or  word  of  the  sentence  is  reserved  for  its  close.  It  is 
opposed  to  a  loose  construction,  in  which  the  sentence 
ends  in  a  straggling  way,  or  with  one  or  more  dependent 
clauses.  Whately's  definition  of  aperiodic  sentence  is,  "A 
period  is  a  complex  sentence  in  which  the  meaning  remains 
suspended  till  the  whole  is  finished. "  The  idea  is,  that  the 
sentence  should  end  with  a  blow  which  clinches  the  whole, 
and  binds  it  forcibly  together.  That  is  conducive,  also, 
to  the  clear  and  forcible  delivery  of  a  sentence,  leaving 
nothing  fragmentary,  nothing  to  be  gathered  up  by  the 
voice  ;  it  is,  in  homely  phrase,  pulling  up  short  with  little 
or  no  decrease  of  momentum.  Sometimes  a  sentence 
may  be  made  to  have  a  periodic  structure  by  simply  re- 
versing the  order  of  its  clauses.  As  a  general  rule,  the 
weakest  words  and  clauses  should  come  in  the  middle, 
the  strongest  at  the  beginning,  but,  above  all,  at  the 
close.  The  general  statement  should  precede  the  par- 
ticular, the  less  striking  that  which  is  more  so,  the  less 
concentrated  and  intense  that  which  is  more  so.  On  this 
subject  of  the  arrangement  of  words  in  a  sentence,  and 
of  thoughts  in  style,  we  would  refer  the  student  to  Her- 
bert Spencer's  "  Essay  on  Style." 

(^.)  By  the  use  of  a  direct  mode  of  expression.  In  a 
direct  style,  the  adjective  comes  before  the  substantive, 
the  predicate  before  the  subject,  the  qualificative  before 
the  qualified  part  of  the  sentence.  Oratory  should  go 
straight  to  the  point.  It  demands  the  avoidance  of  a  form 
of  sentence  where  the  mind  is  held  long  in  suspense.  It 
is  better  to  break  up   the  thought   into   short   sentences. 


STYLE.  779 

and  to  approach  the  meaning  by  a  series  of  approxima- 
tions. Where  there  is,  however,  in  one  sentence,  a  great 
number  of  prehminaries  to  be  attended  to  before  the 
main  subject  or  idea  is  arrived  at,  or  when  the  sentence 
is  quite  complex,  one  should  judiciously  mingle  the  two. 
bringing  in  the  main  idea  before  the  close  of  the  sen- 
tence, but  yet  after  the  mention  of  several  preliminaries. 
This  is  mingling  the  direct  and  indirect  styles.  In  ora- 
tor)%  one  should  not  fatigue  attention,  or  strain  the  mind 
of  the  hearer  to  too  great  an  effort  to  catch  the  meaning 
of  the  speaker.  The  thought  and  the  expression  should 
be  as  near  together  and  as  direct  as  possible  ;  for  orator)- 
does  not  allow  tediously  circuitous  phrases,  but  is  bold, 
direct,  impetuous,  massive,  brief. 

{d.)  By  a  judicious  use  of  antithesis.  Tacitus  among 
the  ancients,  and  Macaulay  among  modern  writers,  are 
masters  of  antithesis.  The  antithetical  arrangement  of  a 
sentence  gives  a  more  vivid  view  of  the  subjects  contrasted. 
It  shows  different  sides,  and  they  reflect  light  on  one 
another.  The  relaxed  attention  in  regard  to  one  side  of 
the  antithesis  gives  the  mind  renewed  power  to  view  and 
appreciate  the  other  side.'  There  maybe  an  affected 
antithesis,  which,  with  all  its  brilliancy,  soon  palls,  as  in 
most  of  the  modern  French  writers.  In  fact,  variety  in 
writing,  alternations  of  light  and  shade,  new  combinations 
of  words,  contrasted  ideas,  the  picturesque  and  bold 
breaking  up  of  sentences,  and  all  means  of  averting  dul- 
ness  and  monotony,  increase  the  force  of  style.  Surprise 
is  an  element  of  strength  as  well  as  beauty. 

(r.)  By  the  use  of  the  climax.  Sentences  should  not 
decrease  in  strength,  although  sometimes  a  long  paragraph 
may  have  a  softening  or  a  letting  down  toward  the  close  ; 

'  Vinet's  "  Homiletics,  "  p.  390. 


780  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

but  in  a  categorical  succession,  the  strongest  word  and  the 
strongest  thought   should   come   last.     Yet  sometimes  a 
primitive  force  is  added  to  an  old  word  that  has  lost  its 
original  value,  by  using    it   climactically.      Nature  itself 
dictates  the  climax  ;  the   storm  gradually  rises  to  its  full 
strength.       Cicero    among   the    ancients,    Robert     Hall 
among  the  moderns,  make  a  fine  use  of  the  climax.     By 
too  frequent  and  uniform  a  use  of  the  climax,  however, 
the  style  loses  power  ;  and  it  is  only  at  considerable  in- 
tervals that  the  fullest  effect  of  the  climax  can  be  realized. 
2.   The   imaginative  or  uncommon  use  of  words.     We 
have  discussed  the  fit  use  of  words  ;  we  will  now  glance  at 
the  imaginative  use  of    words,   for  the  pro- 
Imaginative   j^otion  of  strength   of  style.       The  use  of 
use  of 
words         figurative  language,  we  have  seen,  may  often 

increase  perspicuity  ;  its  judicious  use  may 
even  in  a  greater  degree  promote  energy  of  style,  by  taking 
words  and  thoughts  out  of  their  common,  plain,  and  logical 
forms,  and  holding  them  up  in  the  living  aspects  which 
the  imagination  imparts  to  them.  The  imagination  is 
awaked  by  feeling.  Its  presence,  therefore,  when  natural 
and  free,  implies  a  certain  living  energy  ;  it  fills  words 
with  a  new  sense.  Not  to  speak  of  the  moral  uses  of  the 
imagination  which  lend  vividness  to  preaching,  imagina- 
tive energy  of  language,  rhetorically  considered,  may  ex- 
press itself — 

{a.^  In  the  trope.     A  trope  is  when  there  is  some  un- 
mistakable resemblance  between  the  thing  and  what  it 

signifies;    as  "sword"   for  "war."     There 
The  trope. 

is  no  mistaking  the  essential  identity  of  the 

two.  Resemblance  is,  indeed,  the  general  principle  which 
runs  through  and  governs  all  figurative  language.  The 
trope  is  the  simplest  kind  of  figure.  Many  single  words, 
thus  used  tropically  at  first,  have  lost  their  figurative  sense, 


STYLE.  l^x 

and  thereby  their  first  energy  ;  but  such  tropical  words  as 
"  firmament,"  "  imagination,"  "  melancholy,"  "express," 
"detect,"  "bridle"  (as  a  verb),  "fine-spun,"  "rivet" 
(as  a  verb),  "  insult"  (to  leap  on  a  fallen  foe),  were  very 
forcible  at  first.  Words  may  be  also  used  figuratively  in 
a  less  direct  and  simple  sense,  as  in  synecdoche  and 
metonymy,  by  which,  often,  great  effectiveness  is  pro- 
duced. They  help  to  give  a  rapid,  picturesque,  distinct 
impression,  bringing  in  the  eye,  the  sense,  to  aid  the 
understanding,  and  thus  economizing  time.  The  author 
of  "  Sartor  Resartus"  says  in  his  oddly  humoristic  but 
suggestive  way,  "  Language  is  called  the  Garment  of 
Thought  ;  however,  it  should  rather  be.  Language  is  the 
Flesh-garment,  the  Body,  of  Thought.  I  said  that  imagi- 
nation wove  this  Flesh-garment  ;  and  does  not  she  ?  Meta- 
phors are  her  stuff  ;  examine  Language  ;  what  if  you  ex- 
cept some  few  primitive  elements  of  natural  sounds,  what 
is  it  all  but  Metaphors  recognized  as  such,  or  no  longer 
recognized,  still  fluid  and  florid,  or  now  solid-grown  and 
colorless  ?  If  those  same  primitive  elements  are  the  osse- 
ous fixtures  in  the  Flesh-Garment,  Language — then  are 
Metaphors  its  muscles  and  tissues  and  living  integuments. 
An  unmetaphorical  style  you  shall  In  vain  seek  for  ;  is 
not  your  very  Attention  a  Stretching  to  ?  The  difference 
lies  here  :  some  styles  are  lean,  adust,  even  the  muscle 
itself  seems  osseous  ;  some  are  even  quite  pallid,  hunger- 
bitten,  and  dead-looking  ;  while  others,  again,  glow  in  the 
flush  of  health  and  vigorous  self-growth." 

{b.)  In  the  metaphor.     A  metaphor  is  where  there  is  a 
resemblance  or  similarity  in  some  relation  rather    than 
property,  which  presents  to  the  mind  some- 
thing analogous  between  the  object  signified 

**  ^.        .  .       ,  metaphor, 

and  that  which  is  expressed  ;  as  in  the  com- 
mon phrase,  "a  mountain  wave."     Whately  prefers,  as 


782  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

a  general  rule,  the  use  of  the  metaphor  to  that  of  the 
"  simile"  in  oratory,  because  it  has  greater  brevity, 
and,  moreover,  it  permits  the  hearer  to  make  out  the 
resemblance  for  himself,  which  is  pleasing,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  it  aids  rapidity.  His  words  are,  "  All  men 
are  more  gratified  at  catching  the  resemblance  for  them- 
selves than  in  having  it  pointed  out  to  them."  If  this  be 
true,  the  metaphor  should  not  be  too  dark  or  obscure, 
and  it  should  be  something  naturally  and  immediately 
suggested. 

{c.^  In   the  simile,  allegory,  personification,  etc.     The 

simile,  unlike  the  metaphor,  makes  the  object  represented 

the  principal    thing  for  the  time  being  ;  it 

The  simile,    makes  it  stand  out  in  its  full  proportions  ; 

egory,      j^    draws   the   resemblance  out   into   all    its 
personincation, 

g^j.  mmute     details     of     analogy    or    identity. 

Although  sometimes  difficult  to  distinguish 
from  the  metaphor,  it  is  generally  a  more  elaborate 
figure,  a  more  complete  analogy,  than  the  metaphor,  and 
it  is  needed  when  the  comparison  is  one  that  necessarily 
has  many  parts,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  immediately 
suggested  to  the  mind.  A  mingling  of  the  metaphor 
and  the  simile  may  be  often  used  with  effect,  where  the 
brevity  of  the  metaphor  may  be  joined  with  the  picture- 
like elaborateness  of  the  simile.'  As  to  the  order  in  which 
the  language  of  metaphor  and  simile  should  be  introduced 
for  the  highest  effect,  these  figures  should  generally  pre- 
cede the  thing  illustrated  by  them.  The  figure  should 
come  before  the  introduction  of  the  idea  which  is  set 
forth  by  it.  By  its  light  first  kindled,  the  object  is  thus 
brought  out  more  vividly,  which  is  the  almost  invariable 
order  in  the  Scriptures,  in  the  figurative    language    of 


'  See  Spencer's  "  Essays,"  p.  32. 


STYLE.  783 

Proverbs,  the  elaborate  types  and  illustrations  of  the 
prophecies,  and,  above  all,  in  the  parables  of  our  Lord. 
*'  As  the  cold  of  snow  in  the  time  of  harvest,  so  is  a  faith- 
ful messenger  to  them  that  send  him,  for  he  refresheth 
the  soul  of  his  master."  How  much  this  would  lose,  if 
the  order  were  reversed  to  read,  "  A  faithful  messenger 
refresheth  the  soul  of  his  master,  as  the  cold  of  snow  in 
the  time  of  harvest"!  In  the  order  of  the  last  sentence, 
the  attention  becomes  partly  interested  in  the  thought 
itself  of  the  refreshment  of  a  faithful  messenger  to  the 
soul  ;  but  it  is  a  duller  attention  or  interest  than  if  the 
thought  should  come  after  the  striking  simile  or  rneta- 
phor  that  has  just  awakened  an  interest  in  it. 

But  we  cannot  dwell  upon  these  familiar  rhetorical  dis- 
tinctions, or  upon  the  novel  uses  which  imagination  makes 
of  language  ;  suffice  it  that  the  imagination  throws  new 
life  into  language  ;  it  brings  distant  objects  face  to  face  ; 
it  searches  out  hidden  resemblances  ;  it  makes  the  past 
and  the  future  stand  before  the  mind  as  a  present  reality. 
Dr.  Chalmers'  imagination  was  shown  not  so  much  in  the 
use  of  figures  as  in  this  general  vivification  of  his  style. 
In  his  illustrations  he  made  use  of  the  simile  rather  than 
the  metaphor,  and  his  illustrations  were  generally  drawn 
from  nature,  or  the  natural  sciences.  There  is  a  noble 
and  extended  simile  given  in  Hanna's  "  Life  of  Chal- 
mers," vol.  iii.,  p.  299.  The  simile,  also,  at  the  close 
of  the  sermon,  "  On  the  Expulsive  Power  of  a  New  Af- 
fection," is  very  beautiful.  There  is  a  fine  simile  in 
Huxley's  "  Lay  Sermons"  (App.  ed.,  p.  31),  drawn  from 
the  chess-player.  This  is  a  strong  and  natural  figure  of  Pao- 
lo Sequese,  a  preacher  of  the  seventeenth  century,  "  When 
a  tree  is  cut  down,  on  what  side  does  it  fall  ?  It  falls  on 
the  side  to  which  it  leans.  Leaning  to  the  right,  it  then 
falls  to  the  right  ;  leaning  to  the  left,  it  then  falls  to  the 


7^4  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

left.  These  evil  livers  always  incline  to  the  left  ;  and  yet 
when  they  are  to  be  cut  down,  they  put  in  a  claim  to  fall 
to  the  right  as  good  men  fall.  No  measure  of  grace 
would  suffice  to  accomplish  this  for  them,  excepting  one 
which,  like  a  violent  hurricane,  should,  with  miraculous 
force,  shove  them   to  the  opposite  side." 

The  entire  absence  of  all  figurative  energy  of  style  is  a 
marked  defect.  The  imagination  clothes  the  dry  bones 
of  thought  with  flesh  and  blood  and  lends  to  style  a 
strong  and  realistic  quality.  It  is  one  great  source  of 
invention,  and  of  XSxdX  freshness  \\'\\\z\i  is  so  great  a  beauty, 
and  which  generally  makes  the  difference  between  the  dry 
and  the  interesting  speaker.  "  The  Protestant  pulpit  has 
too  much  neglected  imagery  in  diction  ;  it  has  been 
iconoclastic  in  this,  as  in  everything.  It  has  not  attempt- 
ed a  flowery  style,  the  most  contemptible  of  all  ;  it  has 
tried  to  set  forth  thought,  which  is  not  superfluous  for 
any,  but  is,  above  all,  useful  to  the  least  instructed.  But 
images  of  speech  fasten  the  idea  in  the  memory  by  a 
golden  nail.  These  must  not  be  confounded  with  the 
loose  and  fallacious  analogies  of  certain  preachers  who 
make  a  reason  of  a  comparison."  '  The  imagination  should 
supply  an  inward  refining,  purifying,  organizing,  spiritual- 
izing light  and  heat,  rather  than  be  suffered  to  break  out 
into  too  many  startling  figures  of  speech.  ' '  Van  der  Palm 's 
eloquence  was  grafted  on  the  decapitated  trunk  of  poetry. 
From  this  art  (poetry-making)  he  quickly  withdrew,  with 
the  conviction  that  its  cultivation  would  be  prejudicial  to 
eloquence.  To  this  he  consecrated  all  his  powers,  with 
the  sacrifice  of  poetry,  in  which  he  had  already  gained 
some  distinction.  Still  it  was  doubtless  of  importance  to 
his  prose  that  he  had  passed  through  this  poetic  school. 


'  Vinet's  "  Histoire  de  la  Predication." 


STYLE.  785 

As  regards  euphony  it  was  valuable,  and  on  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  Bible  he  said,  *  Had  I  never  felt  the  fire 
kindled  within  me,  had  I  been  an  entire  stranger  to  the 
language  of  ecstacy  (poetry),  I  should  never  have  ven- 
tured on  the  translation  of  such  a  book  as  Isaiah, '  "  '  The 
style  of  Demosthenes  had  little  of  the  figurative,  but 
much  of  this  idealizing  power  of  the  imagination.  Above 
all,  in  speaking,  the  figurative  use  of  language  should  not 
degenerate  into  the  poetical  style  of  writing.  Robert 
Hall  said,  "  I  am  tormented  with  the  desire  of  preaching 
better  than  I  can.  I  like  to  see  a  pretty  child  or  pretty 
flower,  but  in  a  sermon  prettiness  is  out  of  place.  To 
my  ear  it  would  be  anything  but  commendation  should 
it  be  said  to  me,  '  You  have  given  a  pretty  sermon.'  If 
I  were  upon  trial  for  my  life,  and  my  advocate  should 
amuse  the  jury  with  his  tropes  and  figures,  burying  his 
argument  beneath  a  profusion  of  the  flowers  of  rhetoric, 
I  would  say  to  him,  '  Tut,  man,  you  care  more  for  your 
vanity  than  for  my  hanging.  Put  yourself  in  my  place  ; 
speak  in  view  of  the  gallows,  and  you  will  tell  your  story 
plainly  and  earnestly.'  I  have  no  objection  to  a  lady's 
winding  a  sword  with  ribbons  and  studding  it  with  roses 
when  she  presents  it  to  her  lover  ;  but  in  the  day  of  bat- 
tle he  will  tear  away  the  ornaments,  and  use  the  naked 
edge  to  the  enemy." 

If  one  use  figures,  let  them  be,  i.  One's  own,  and  fresh. 
2.   Not  far-fetched.     3.   Common,  but  not  trite  or  vulgar. 
4.   Strong,  chaste,  manly,   natural,   not  fine 
and  elaborate  ;    they  should  not    be  drawn    Q^^^i*'"  of 
from  anything  artificial,    like    dress   or    up- 
holstery."   5.  Suited    to    the  nature  of    the   subject.     6. 


'  "  Life  of  Van  der  Palm,"  p.  27. 

•  Ouintilian's  "  Inslitut.,"  B.  viii.  c.  iii.  sec.  6. 


786  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

One  figure  to  one  subject,  and  not  the  mixture  of  two  or 
more  figures  in  the  same  sentence,  or  very  near  together. 

Nature  and  the  natural  sciences  afford  the  richest  field 
for  illustrations.  It  would  be  indeed  desirable  to  have 
more  of  the  fresh  influences  of  nature  in  our  arid  sermons, 
more  of  the  breath  of  blossoming  clover  fields,  more  of 
the  rustling  of  autumn  corn,  more  of  cheery,  blessed  sun- 
shine, of  the  singing  of  birds,  even  of  the  dash  of  the 
stormy  sea  lifting  up  its  hoarse  anthem.  This  would  be, 
we  believe,  true  praise  to  Christ,  by  and  through  whom 
all  these  beautiful  and  glorious  things  were  made,  and  who, 
when  he  walked  the  earth,  communed  with  God  in  nature 
as  well  as  in  spirit.  As  a  general  rule,  young  writers  and 
preachers  need  not  be  urged  to  the  use  of  figurative  lan- 
guage, but  rather,  perhaps,  restrained  from  it  ;  yet  it  is 
better  to  be  in  exuberance  in  a  young  writer  than  to  be 
absent  altogether  ;  for  it  may  be  trained  into  an  element 
of  strength. 

A  word  might  be  said  upon  pathos^  which  is  a  true 
though  mild  form  of  energy  of  style,  and  which  is  partly 
the  product  of  the  imagination,  and  partly 
of  the  feelings,  and  without  which  a  sermon 
is  often  powerless.  Modern  preaching — highly  intel- 
lectual and  brilliant — too  often  lacks  tenderness  ;  few 
preachers  have  the  element  or  power  of  pathos  ;  and  per- 
haps it  is  true  that  "  a  high  civilization  supersedes  the 
more  primitive  emotions."  But  after  all  the  ridicule 
and  contempt  cast  upon  feeling  (richly  deserved  when  the 
feeling  is  false)  it  is  better  to  have  a  spring  where  the 
heart  is,  a  spring  capable  of  gushing  at  the  time  of 
freshet,  than  to  have  a  cannon-ball  or  a  brickbat.  Christ 
had  a  human  heart,  and  so  should  his  preachers  have. 
Strong  and  tender  have  been  words  fitly  applied  to  the 
most  heroic  men  and  sternest  fighters  the  world  has  ever 


STYLE.  787 

seen.  Pathos  is  like  water  from  the  smitten  rock.  It  is 
not  pathos  if  it  come  from  a  weak  source.  It  would 
have  no  moving  and  affecting  quality  in  it.  Pathos 
springs  from  tender  feeling,  or  from  a  suggestion  that 
awakes  tender  feeling.  It  is  produced  by  bringing  up 
objects  that  excite  our  compassion,  pity,  love — that  touch 
the  deep  springs  of  feeling. 

The  theory  of  a  modern  essayist  is  an  interesting  one 
— that  some  touch  of  the  past  which  imagination  brings 
up  is  always  needed  for  pathos  ;  some  comparison  be- 
tween former  happiness  and  present  pain.  The  office  of 
pathos  is  certainly  to  overpower  the  degrading  sense  of 
petty  personal  cares  and  of  present  momentary  annoy- 
ances, with  the  blending  of  thoughts  of  greater  power 
and  depth.  Something  of  the  irrevocable— of  loss 
which  cannot  be  restored — enters  into  all  pathos,  and  sets 
the  sorrows  and  vexations  of  the  hour  at  their  rieht 
level  ;  and  even  a  slight  severance,  if  it  be  forever — when 
it  is  said  of  a  rivulet, 

"  No  more  by  thee  my  steps  shall  be. 
Forever  and  forever," — 

that  is  enough  for  pathos.  The  smallest  act  performed 
for  the  last  time  awakes  the  pathetic  sense.'  Pathos, 
whether  treating  of  the  past  or  the  present,  is  a  sudden 
and  timely  utterance,  which  gives  vent  to  the  feelings, 
and  a  relief  to  sad  thoughts  ;  and  tears,  if  they  spring 
from  an  inner  fountain,  sometimes  refresh  and  do  good 
to  a  hardened  heart.  This  power  can  be  cultivated  in  the 
preacher  only  by  keeping  his  own  heart  open,  his  sym- 
pathies warm  and  free  ;  by  not  suffering  the  emotional 
part  of  his  nature  to  be  frozen  up  by  the  keen,  cold  breath 
of  the  intellect,  or  by  the  hard  realities  of  life.  Scotch 
preachers,  rugged  as  their  style  often  is,  are  sometimes 
Essays  on  Social  Subjects." 


788  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

pathetic  preachers,  because  their  hearts  are  warm.  Pathos 
always  speaks  in  simple  language — the  language  of  nature 
and  of  children  ;  a  natural  metaphor,  a  homely  illustra- 
tion, a  story  related  in  the  plainest  way,  is  enough,  often, 
to  touch  the  deep  spring  of  feeling  in  the  heart.  The 
greatest  natures  have  generally  the  most  power  of  pathos. 
Luther's  illustration  of  faith  by  the  little  bird  singing  on 
the  spray,  under  the  great  arch  of  heaven,  without  care, 
because  his  heavenly  Father  feedeth  him,  is  but  a  repro- 
duction of  the  affecting  beauty  of  our  Saviour's  own 
words.  How  touching  are  the  simple  words  in  Gen- 
esis, "  And  there  I  buried  Leah  !"  The  pathetic  may 
not  be  often  drawn  upon,  certainly  not  in  one  sermon,  or 
there  is  thus  a  waste  of  feeling,  and  a  greater  difficulty 
in  its  reproduction  ;  and  it  hardly  need  be  added,  the  at- 
tempt at  pathos,  where  it  is  not  genuine,  is  ever  a  failure, 
and  deserves  to  be.  Augustine,  who  had  bursts  of 
mighty  feeling  and  passion,  but  not  so  often  of  pathos, 
speaking  in  one  place  of  his  mother  in  a  most  affecting 
manner,  says  of  her  :  "  She  was  the  mother  of  a  god- 
less son.  She  bewailed  me  as  one  dead — carrying  me 
forth  upon  the  bier  of  her  thoughts,  that  thou  mightest 
say  to  the  son  of  the  widow,  '  Young  man,  I  say  unto 
thee  arise  ;'  and  he  should  arise,  and  begin  to  speak,  and 
thou  shouldst  deliver  him  to  his  mother." 

In  concluding  these   comments   upon  energy  of  style, 
we  would  say  that  after  the   best   rules  have  been  given, 

there   is  something  deeper  still  in  the  man 
Energy  the  .  ^       .  . 

It  of  the   himself  ;  and  energy  is  no  factitious  acquire- 

actionofall    ment,  but  is  the  result  of  the  action  of  all 

the  powers    the  powers  of  the  nature  set  in   motion  by 

fired  by  a      ^j^^^.   y^x.  Brown  would  call  that  r\  dspfxov— 

great  purpose.  ^^^^  ..  ^^^^  particle" — that  original   energy 

of  soul  which  is  beyond  and  beneath  all.    Pericles,  chiefly 


STYLE.  789 

from  this  quality,  was  called  "  the  Olympian,"  His  gen- 
eral style  is  described  by  critics  as  harsh  and  abrupt, 
"  seeming  like  one  who  dealt  thunderbolts  from  the 
clouds."  Thucydides  says  of  him,  "  He  controlled  the 
multitude  with  an  independent  spirit,  and  was  not  led  by 
them  so  much  as  himself  led  them  ;  for  he  did  not  say 
anything  to  humor  them,  but  was  able,  by  the  strength 
of  his  character,  to  contradict  them,  even  at  the  risk  of 
their  displeasure.  Whenever,  for  instance,  he  perceived 
them  unreasonable,  or  insolently  confident,  by  his  lan- 
guage he  would  dash  them  down  to  alarm  ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  when  they  were  unreasonably  alarmed  he 
would  raise  them  again  to  confidence."  Thus  his  force 
was  in  himself,  rather  than  in  what  he  said.  His  style,  as 
Thucydides  again  said,  was  not  made  so  much  to  be  ad- 
mired as  to  endure.  There  is  marvellous  condensation 
in  his  language — no  fine-spun  thoughts,  but  great  thoughts 
plainly  and  briefly  expressed. 

His  celebrated  "  funeral  oration"  is,  however,  from 
the  nature  of  the  theme,  more  free  from  this  abrupt- 
ness than  his  other  addresses  to  the  people,  and  has 
more  of  elegant  finish,  order,  and  unity.  It  is  full  of 
noble  sentiment  "  of  the  unwritten  laws  of  noble  con- 
duct." He  says  in  one  portion  of  it,  "  He  who  confers 
a  favor  is  the  stronger  friend,  since  by  kindness  he  seeks 
to  keep  alive  a  feeling  of  obligation  in  the  receiver,  while 
the  receiver  knows  that  he  returns  the  favor  not  in  the 
way  of  a  free  gift,  but  in  the  way  of  discharging  a  debt." 
In  this  oration  occurs  the  lofty  and  familiar  apostrophe, 
"  For  of  illustrious  men  the  whole  earth  is  the  sepulchre, 
signalized  not  alone  by  the  inscription  of  the  column  in 
their  native  land,  but  in  lands  not  their  own,  by  the  un- 
written memory  which  dwells  in  every  man,  of  the  spirit 
more  than  the  deed." 


79°  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

Energy  in  a  speaker  comes  from  a  strong  will,  acting 
on  a  strong  intellect,  when  both  of  them  are  moved  by 
a  strong    emotion.       No    man   can    be  a  great  preacher 
without  great  feeling.     All  comes  at  last  to  this  : 
"  Gefiihl  ist  alles."  ' 

It  is  said  of  John  Wesley,  a  man  of  iron  self-control  ; 
of  calm,  even  cold,  temperament  ;  that  sometimes,  in 
preaching,  his  heart  was  mightily  stirred,  and  then  the 
myriads  before  him  felt  a  power  that  bowed  them.  He 
says  of  himself,  on  one  occasion,  "  In  the  midst  of  a 
mob  I  called  for  a  chair  ;  the  sounds  were  hushed  and  all 
was  calm  and  still  ;  my  heart  was  filled  with  love,  my 
eyes  with  tears  and  my  mouth  with  arguments.  They 
were  amazed,  they  were  ashamed,  they  were  melted 
down,  they  devoured  every  word,"  It  is  no  superficial 
feeling  of  which  we  speak,  but  one  which  springs  from 
the  moral  and  religious  affections — from  the  higher  na- 
ture going  out  in  its  passionate  yearning  and  desires 
toward  the  infinite  and  the  immortal,  and  going  out 
toward  the  good  of  men  in  their  immortal  interests.  It 
is  that  feeling  which  grasps  divine  things  and  God  him- 
self better  than  pure  knowledge  does. 

But  how  is  this  profound  spiritual  emotion  excited  ? 
We  answer,  by  some  real  belief,  some  strong  and  all- 
absorbing  realization  of  the  object  under  discussion  and 
which  makes  it  a  living  truth  to  the  mind.  Therefore, 
for  one  to  be  an  energetic  preacher,  he  must  be  a  man  of 
strong  faith— of  faith  which  fills  him  and  moves  him  more 
than  any  present  object  of  mind  or  sense.  Confidence  in 
the  truth  awakens  energy,  passion,  imagination,  all  the 
great  forces  of  the  soul.  The  love  of  Christ,  the  intense 
realization  of  the  truth  of  this  love,  of  the  work  of  re- 

'  "  Faust." 


STYLE.  79^ 

demption  which  Christ  wrought  by  his  sufferings  and 
death  for  the  world,  and  the  need  which  every  man  has 
of  this  salvation,  gave  Paul  his  energy.  That  constrain- 
ed him  to  speak  and  to  act.  Zeal  for  the  righteous- 
ness of  God,  and  wrath  against  those  who  pervert  the 
truth,  inspired  Luther  with  energy.  "  Luther  used  to 
assign  a  very  characteristic  and  unique  cause  for  the 
effectiveness  of  his  sermons  and  writing.  I  have  no 
better  work,  he  said,  than  anger  {zorn)  and  zeal  ;  for  if  I 
wish  to  compose,  or  write,  or  pray,  or  preach  well,  I 
must  be  angry  {zornig).  Then  all  the  blood  in  my  veins 
is  stirred,  my  understanding  is  sharpened,  and  all  dismal 
thoughts  and  temptations  are  dissipated.  No  doubt  a 
noble  moral  indignation  this  against  all  meanness  and 
evil.  But  even  what  we  usually  call  temper  often  gives 
great  energy.  Swift's  rage  was  malignant  ;  Luther's 
noble.  Something  personal— even  literary  egotism,  as 
in  Gibbon,  or  some  individuality,  as  in  Hawthorne — 
promotes  energy  of  style."  ' 

Baxter  said  he  preached  as  "  a  dying  man  to  dying 
men  ;"  but  there  was  probably  no  sign  of  dying  or  failing 
strength  in  such  preaching.  It  was  full  of  life  and  power.  He 
was  possessed  by  the  truth,  and  that  made  him  powerful. 

What  a  preacher  South  would  have  been  if  he  had  had 
the  spirituality  and  Christ-like  earnestness  of  Baxter  I 
Saurin  was  a  preacher  of  great  energy  of  style.  He 
abounds  in  interrogations,  in  passionate  address,  in  bold 
and  fiery  passages  that  seem  to  flame  out  of  his  heart. 
Dr.  Beecher's  style  was  a  noble  example  of  energy  ;  this 
is  illustrated  in  his  famous  temperance  sermons. 

•'  Soft  words,  smooth  prophecies,  are  doubtless  well  ; 
But  to  rebuke  the  age's  popular  crimes. 
We  need  the  souls  of  fire,  the  hearts  of  that  old  time." 

'  London  Spectator. 


792  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

After  all  that  has  been  said,  let  it  not  be  supposed  that 
any  mere  rhetorical  art  can  produce  real  energy  of  style 
■ — above  all,  in  the  preacher.  T^  hold  the  truth,  as  the 
truth  holds  us,  in  entire  and  all-absorbing  mastery — this 
alone  will  make  us  strong  preachers.  Earnestness  is  the 
soul  of  eloquence.  He  who  feels  makes  others  feel. 
The  man  who  so  loves  freedom  that  he  is  willing  to  give 
his  life  for  it,  is  the  man  to  speak  for  the  cause  of  free- 
dom with  power.  He  casts  rhetoricians  behind  his  back. 
The  preacher  who  is  filled  with  the  sense  of  the  eternal 
truths  which  he  preaches,  so  that  they  are  as  real  to  him 
as  his  life,  and  infinitely  more  important — he  is  the  man 
to  reason  of  righteousness  and  judgment  to  come.  He 
who,  though  not  seeing,  yet  believes  in  the  unseen 
Christ,  who  loves  him  more  than  any  other 

The  chief     object — he  is  the  one  to  speak  of  the  love  of 

Christ   so  that   the  rocky  heart  shall  melt, 
energy  in  the 
preacher.      F<^ith  which  ivorkcth  by  love  is  really  the  chief 

source  of  energy  in  the  Christian  preacher. 

He  who  speaks  because  he  believes,  will  not  deal  in  weak 

arguments  or  flowers   of  rhetoric.       He   has  something 

more  earnest  in  his  speech  than  that. 

John  Bunyan  said,  "  It  pleased  me  nothing  to  see  peo- 
ple drink  in  opinions,  if  they  seemed  ignorant  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  the  worth  of  their  own  salvation."'  That 
feeling  fired  his  preaching,  and  gave  it  its  intense  indi- 
vidualizing and  awakening  power. 

For  the  promotion  of  energy  of  style,  we  would  recom- 
mend, first  of  all,  the  study  of  the  Bible.  It  does  not  play 
with  words.  In  its  realness,  directness,  and  power,  it  has 
an  earnestness  like  nature.  In  breadth,  boldness,  and 
sublimity  of  imagery  and  thought,  it  is,  indeed,  like  the 

'  Philip's  "  Life  of  Bunyan,"  p.  257. 


STYLE.  793 

vast  and  tameless  sea  and  has  in  it  a  "  sound  as  of  many- 
waters. "  One  also  may  invigorate  his  style  by  the  study 
of  the  "  Iliad,"  of  the  '.Divina  Commedia"  of  Dante, 
and  of  Shakespeare  among  the  poets  ;  of  Milton's 
prose.  Dr.  South,  Junius'  Letters,  Carlyle,  Motley — the 
last  chiefly,  however,  in  the  picturesque  and  dramatic 
character  of  his  writing  ;  but  in  all  these,  and  in  many 
more  that  might  be  named,  there  is  the  vivida  vis  animi 
which  makes  a  strong  style. 

(6.)  Elegance.  Elegance  of  style  is  that  quality  by 
which  thought  is  expressed  in  a  way  that  appeals  to  good 
taste.     We  have  spoken   of    it   incidentally 

under  the  head  of   the  principle  of    "  Taste     I^efinition 
,  of  elegance. 

in  Preaching.         It  seeks  to  realize  the  ideal 

of  beauty,  and  its  chief  elements  are  propriety,  right  sen- 
timent, and  grace. 

It  does  not  altogether  lie  in  the  language,  but  in  the 
thought  ;  for  it  is  the  expression  of  a  refined  mind. 
Elegance  is  not  inconsistent  with  energy  of  style,  since 
the  beauty  of  the  works  of  nature  often  adds  to,  instead 
of  taking  from,  their  power.  It  is  a  common  observa- 
tion that  there  is  almost  as  much  beauty  as  grandeur  in 
Niagara.  True  elegance  is  doing  without  whatever  weak- 
ens style,  all  false  ornament,  and  everything  contrary 
to  good  taste.  Demosthenes'  style  was  at  once  strong 
and  elegant. 

The  sources  of  elegance  of  style,  and  the  means  of  its 
attainment,  are — 

(<z.)  Fineness  of  perception.     This,  of  course,  is,  for  the 

most  part,  a  native  gift,  but  may  be  greatly 

developed  and  improved  by  cultivation.    Such       Sources 

,,     of  elegance, 
a  true    perception  unconsciously   avoids  all 

thoughts  and  expressions  that  offend  good  taste.  The 
highest  degree  of  elegance  comes  from  the  severest  men- 
tal culture. 


794  RHETORIC   APPLIED    TO  PREACHING. 

{b.)  A  careful  avoiding  of  false  ornament.  It  is  an 
altogether  erroneous  idea  that  elegance  consists  in  orna- 
ment ;  it  may  sometimes  consist  in  avoiding  it.  It  is, 
more  truly  speaking,  ornament  of  the  right  kind  and  in 
the  right  place — the  assemblage  or  union  of  things  that 
harmonize.  A  Corinthian  capital  would  look  misplaced 
on  a  Doric  column.  "  Whatever  is  improper  cannot 
embellish."  '  Ornament  which  is  inexpressive  and  over- 
loaded, which  does  not  help,  but  encumbers,  the  thought, 
takes  from  elegance  ;  for  no  ornament  is  good  which  is 
not  in  some  way  useful.  The  ornamental  drapery  of 
nature,  even  to  the  smallest  leaf,  serves  some  genuine 
purpose.  We  meet  in  nature  with  no  senseless  or  useless 
things.  Everything  contributes  to  some  vital  object. 
So,  in  style,  ornament  is  not  an  end,  but  a  means  :  it 
imparts  force  to  this  truth  ;  it  brings  that  subject  more 
into  the  light  ;  it  softens  the  severity  of  that  line  of 
argumentation  ;  it  clothes  the  nakedness  of  that  bare  fact. 
It  is  itself  intended  to  suggest  thought  and  to  aid 
thought,  not  merely  to  attract  and  amuse,  and  by  no 
means  to  take  the  place  of  more  solid  qualities  of  style. 
The  elaborate  work  and  ornament  on  a  cannon  may  be 
admitted  to  relieve  the  stern  character  of  the  instrument  ; 
but  in  war,  the  best  ornament  is  to  have  the  piece  well 
polished  and  in  good  condition  to  send  the  ball.  In  any 
ornament  we  may  employ,  let  us  ask  ourselves,  Does  this 
increase  the  effect  of  my  sermon  ?  Does  it  aid  the 
thought  ?  If  not,  reject  it.  As  we  have  before  hinted, 
there  is  no  such  curse  to  a  writer  as  the  desire  of  fine 
writing.  It  clings  to  one  worse  than  the  robe  of  Nessus, 
and  it  must  be  given  up  at  any  sacrifice.  And,  lastly,  in 
relation  to  ornament,  let  it  always  be   remembered  that 

'  Quintilian's  "  Institut.,"  B.  viii.  c.  iii.  s.  15. 


STYLE.  .795 

there  must  be  strength  in  order  to  sustain  ornament  ; 
there  must  be  the  brazen  column  to  bear  the  carved  work 
and  adornment  upon  it.  The  old  Greeks,  in  their  criti- 
cism of  art,  clearly  distinguished  between  what  was  mere- 
ly ornamental  and  what  was  really  beautiful. 

(<:.)  A  careful  choice  of  fit  words. 

{d.)  Precise  thinking.  Precision  is  a  great  help  to  ele- 
gance of  style,  which  delights  in  sharply-cut  and  clearly- 
defined  lines.  There  may  be  a  certain  sublimity  in  vague 
thought,  but  elegance  requires  clear  and  distinct  thought. 

{e.)  Methodical  arrangement.  Of  this  faculty  of  method 
a  modern  writer  thus  speaks  :  "  The  more  we  examine 
the  higher  orders  of  intellect,  whether  devoted  to  sci- 
ence, to  art,  or  even  to  action,  the  more  clearly  we  shall 
observe  the  presence  of  a  faculty  common  to  all  such 
orders  of  intellect,  because  essential  to  completion  in  each 
— a  faculty  which  seems  so  far  intuitive  or  innate  {in- 
geniuin),  that,  though  study  and  practice  perfect  it,  they 
do  not  sufifice  to  bestow  the  faculty  of  grouping  into 
order  and  symmetrical  form  ideas  in  themselves  scattered 
and  dissimilar.  This  is  the  faculty  of  method  ;  and 
though  every  one  who  possesses  it  is  not  necessarily  a 
great  man,  yet  every  great  man  must  possess  it  in  a  very 
superior  degree,  whether  he  be  a  poet,  a  philosopher,  a 
statesman,  a  general  ;  for  every  great  man  exhibits  the 
talent  for  organization  or  construction,  whether  it  be 
manifested  in  a  poem,  a  philosophical  system,  a  policy, 
or  a  strategy.  And  without  method  there  is  no  organiza- 
tion or  construction.  But  in  art,  method  is  less  percepti- 
ble than  in  science,  and,  in  familiar  language,  usually 
receives  some  other  name.  Nevertheless,  we  include  the 
meaning  when  we  speak  of  the  composition  of  a  picture, 
the  arrangement  of  an  oration,  the  plan  of  a  poem.  Art 
employs  method  for  the  symmetrical  formation  of  beauty, 


796  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

as  science  employs  it  for  logical  exposition  of  truth  ;  but 
the  mechanical  process  is,  in  the  last,  ever  kept  visibly 
distinct,  while  in  the  first  it  escapes  from  sight  amid  the 
shows  of  color  and  the  curves  of  grace." 

(/.)  Harmonious  arrangement.  The  sentences  should 
be  such  as  flow  easily  from  the  tongue — such  as  are  eu- 
phonious.    The  ear  must  aid  the  style. 

{g.')  The  study  of  beauty  in   nature  and  art. 

There  is  a  caution  to  be  observed  in  striving  after  ele- 
gance of  style.  Vinet  remarks  in  his  "  Homiletics" 
(p.  470),  "  The  preacher,  in  order  to  be  elegant,  must  have 
recourse  to  practice  ;  and  another  and  much  greater  effort 
will  be  necessary  not  to  appear  so.  Elegance  which  an- 
nounces itself,  elegance  which  shows  itself,  is  unskillful 
and  unhappy  ;  but  chaste  elegance  is  appropriate  to  the 
pulpit."  Whately  also  has  an  admirable  remark  on  this 
point  (Rhetoric,  Style,  chap,  iii.,  part  iii.)  :  "The  safest 
rule  is,  never,  during  the  act  of  composition,  to  study 
elegance,  or  think  about  it  at  all.  Let  an  author  study 
the  best  models,  mark  their  beauties  of  style,  and  dwell 
upon  them,  that  he  may  insensibly  catch  the  habit  of  ex- 
pressing himself  with  elegance  ;  and  when  he  has  com- 
pleted any  composition,  he  may  revise  it,  and  cautiously 
alter  any  passage  that  is  awkward  and  harsh,  as  well  as 
those  that  are  feeble  and  obscure  ;  but  let  him  never, 
while  writing,  think  of  any  beauties  of  style,  but  content 
himself  with  such  as  may  occur  spontaneously.  He 
should  carefully  study  perspicuity  as  he  goes  along  ;  he 
may  also,  though  more  cautiously,  aim  in  like  manner  at 
energy  ;  but  if  he  is  endeavoring  after  elegance,  he  will 
hardly  fail  to  betray  the  endeavor  ;  and  in  proportion  as 
he  does  this,  he  will  be  so  far  from  giving  pleasure  to 
good  judges  that  he  will  offend  more  than  by  the  rudest 
simplicity." 


STYLE.  797 


Sec.   35.   Conclusion. 

In  the  numerous  classifications  of  style  which  have  been 

under  discussion,  we  have  spoken  of  each  at  the  time  as 

valuable  ;   but,  after  all,  they  are  features  of 

one  style,  variations  of  one  chord  ;  for  all  the       All  good 

good   qualities   of  style   should    appear  in  a    ^"^""^'^^  ° 

style  should 

man's  speaking — all  varieties  of  the  thought- 

r  i^  &  appear  in 

ful,  the  euphonious,  the  pure,  the  precise,  every  sermon. 
the  perspicuous,  the  energetic,  the  elegant, 
the  plain,  the  direct,  the  profound —even  as  his  needs 
and  his  feelings  are.  It  is  just  this  noble  variety, 
this  mastery  of  all  the  chords,  which  shows  the  true 
orator.  The  orator  should  indeed  know  all  things  ;  but 
the  preacher  should  have  something  more  than  knowl- 
edge, even  a  wisdom  that  comes  from  above. 

Let  us  call  to  mind  what  was  said  at  the  beginning  of 
these  lectures  upon  Sacred  Rhetoric,  that  rhetoric,  ora- 
tory, and  style  should  ever  be  studied  psychologically, 
and  with  reference  to  the  nature  of  the  mind  and  the 
powers  and  requirements  of  the  soul  ;  that  we  should 
never  separate  rhetoric  from  man,  or  from  the  speaker 
himself,  and  those  whom  he  addresses.  It  should  not  be 
disconnected  from  the  great  end  of  preaching — which  is 
personal — the  salvation  and  instruction  of  souls  in  Christ. 
If  it  be  thus  abstractly  treated,  it  becomes  a  pedantic 
study,  dry  as  the  dust  of  the  summer  threshing-floor. 
But  in  rhetorical  studies  we,  as  ministers  of  Christ,  should 
be  ever  appro.ximating  to  a  fit  and  perfect  expression  of 
Him  who  is  the  truth,  who  is  the  true  Word  of  God  ;  and 
only  when  the  inspiration  of  His  eternal  Spirit  fills  our 
minds  is  there  a  vital  element  in  speech,  an  energy,  a 
beauty,    and   a  converting   power,    which    transcend    all 


jgS  RHETORIC  APPLIED    TO   PREACHING. 

human  eloquence.  Have  confidence  in  your  work. 
Preach  the  word  courageously,  hopefully,  manfully.  But 
even  if  you  preach  it  in  human  weakness,  humility,  and 
tears,  yet  with  a  loving  and  believing  heart,  you  shall 
reap  in  joy. 


INDEX. 


Action,  in  the  orator,  667. 

.(Esthetics,  its  principles  to  be  re- 
garded in  preaching,  615,  et 
seq. 

Alexander,  Dr.  J.  W.,  276,  688. 

Alexander  of  Hales,  140, 

Allegorical  preaching,  59. 

Ambrose,  Bp.  of  Milan,  103. 

American  pulpit,  226,  et  seq. 
early  preachers  of  the,  226. 
product   of  the  character  and 

history  of  the  people,  230. 
possessed  sound  learning,  230. 
characteristics  of  the,  232. 

Ammon,  "  Handbuch  der  Einleitung 
zur  Kanzelberedsamkeit"  4. 

Amyraud,  Mos.,  185. 

Analogy,  the  argument  from,  576. 

Analysis,  the  method  of,  567, 
grammatical,  732. 

Anselm,  117,  133,  140, 

Anthony,  St.,  of  Padua,  117,  134. 

Apollos,  550,  et  seq. 

Apostles,  preaching  of  the,  35,  et 
seq. 

Aquinas,  Thomas,  133,  140. 

Argumentative  development  of  the 
sermon,  408,  et  seq. 

Aristotle,     "Treatise     on     Rheto- 
ric," I. 
his  conception  of  rhetoric,  527, 
et  seq. 


Arnold,  Dr.  Thomas,  221. 

on  "Interpretation,"  251,  325. 

character  of  his  preaching,  419. 

Arnold,   Matthew,   on    the   critical 

power,  638. 
Art,  its  early  manifestation  in  Chris- 
tian preaching,  63. 
in  the  composition  of  sermons, 

468. 
why  disregarded  in  the  primi- 
tive church,  619. 
Ascham,    Roger,   his   rule   of    lan- 
guage, 612. 
Athanasius,  as  a  preacher,  80. 

his  rebuke  of  preachers  of  his 
time,  115. 
Atterbury,  Bp.,  206. 
Augustine,  his  view  of  the  ministry, 
xvii, 
sermons  of,  5. 
as  a  preacher,  105,  et  seq. 
his  main  homiletical  precepts, 

106,  et  seq. 
his  style,  no. 

an  extempore  preacher,  in. 
number  of  his  sermons,  112. 
his  introductions,  347. 
his  treatise,  "  De  Apto  et  Pul- 
chro,"  629. 

B 

Bacon,  Lord,  597,  745. 
Barrow,  Isaac,  the  sermons  of,  3. 
as  a  preacher,  193. 


8oo 


INDEX. 


on  the  "  Power  of  the  Tongue," 
586. 
Basil,  as  a  preacher,  81. 
Bautain,  on  extempore  speaking,  4, 

516,  517,  519. 
Baxter,  Richard,  sermons  of,  3. 

as  a  preacher,  199, 

quoted,  438,  767. 
Bede,  Venerable,  117. 
Beecher,  Dr.  Lyman,  as  a  preacher, 

236. 
Bernard,    St.,   of    Clairvaux,   as    a 

preacher,  131,  139. 
Bersier,  18S. 

Bible,  the  English,  its  influence 
upon  the  English  language, 
609. 

to  be  studied  for  the  invigora- 
tion  of  style,  792. 
Binney,  Thomas,  3,  221. 
Biographical  sermon,  405, 
Blair,    Dr.    Hugh,   as   a    preacher, 

206. 
Boileau,  quoted,  427. 
Borromeo,  Carlo,  153. 
Bossuet,  sermons  of,  4. 

as  a  preacher,  186. 
Bourdaloue,  sermons  of,  4. 

as  a  preacher,  188. 

upon  a  plan,  283. 
British  pulpit,  189,  et  seq. 

its  golden  age,  189. 
Brooks,  Phillips,  3. 
Brougham,  Lord,  285. 

his  letter  to  Zachary  Macaulay, 
748. 
Bruyere,  750. 
Bunyan,  John,  a  lay-preacher,  xxvi. 

sermons  of,  3. 

as  a  preacher,  202,  et  seq. 

quoted,  792. 
Burke,  Edmund,  641. 
Burnet,  Bp.,  quoted,  482,  747,  761. 
Bushnell,  Horace,  sermons  of,  3. 

his  power  as  a  preacher,  468. 

his  use  of  written  sermons,  481. 


upon  pulpit  power,  545. 
his  use  of  language,  589. 
his  beauty  of  thought,  631. 
his  originality,  680. 
Butler,  Bp.,  sermons  of,  3. 

his    argument     from    analogy, 

577. 
quoted,  755. 


Caird,  Dr.  John,  221. 
Calvin,  as  a  preacher,  149. 
Campbell,  Dr.  George,  "Philosophy 

of  Rhetoric,"  2. 
Candlish,  Dr.,  221. 
"  Cant"  and  "  Slang,"  743,  744. 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  596,  599,  612,  735, 

781. 
Chalmers,  Dr.,  sermons  of,  3. 
as  a  preacher,  216,  et  seq. 
on  delivery  of  sermons,  488. 
failure  as  extempore  preacher, 

499. 
use  of  barbarous  words,  594. 
his  imagination,  630. 
as  a  preacher  of  practical  mo- 
ral it)',  693. 
Channing,  Dr.,  sermons  of,  3. 

as  an  ethical  preacher,  241. 
Charnock,  on  reason,  565. 
Chaucer,  the  study  of,  603. 
Christ,    regarded    as    a    preacher, 
xxxiii. 
the  preaching  of  Christ  histor- 
ically considered,  27,  et  seq. 
he  did  not  prescribe  the  form 

of  preaching,  32. 
the  theme   and  end  of  preach- 
ing, 258. 
the    moral    beauty   of   Christ's 
preaching, 617. 
Christlieb,  Dr.  Immanuel,  on  mem- 
orizing a  sermon,  493. 
Chrysostom,  his  idea  of  the  minis- 
try, xvii. 
sermons  of,  5. 


INDEX. 


80 1 


as  a  preacher,  90,  et  seq. 

number  and  range  of  homilies, 
91. 

oratorical  gifts,  95. 

moral  element  in  his  preaching, 
96. 

style,  97. 

composition   and   form    of  his 
sermons,  99. 

a  popular  preacher,  loi. 

considered  that  preaching  was 
"to  please  God,"  544. 

his  imagination  and   use  of  il- 
lustrations, 627. 
Church  edifices,  60. 
Cicero,  '^  De  Oratore,"  I. 

his   description  of  eloquence, 

254,  546. 

on  writing  as  an  aid  to  speak- 
ing, 485. 

his  conception  of  rhetoric,  531. 

on  the  community  of  the  arts, 

634- 
his    cultivation    of    the  voice, 

658. 
on  action  in  the  orator,  669. 
on  the  style  of  the  orator,  728. 
Clarke,  Dr.  Samuel,  205. 
Classification  of  sermons,  according 
to  their  treatment  and  form, 
444,  et  seq. 
according   to    their   method   of 
delivery,  479,  et  seq. 
Claude,  Jean,  "  Essay  on  the  com 
position  of  a  sermon,"  3. 
sermons  of,  4. 
as  a  preacher,  178,  et  seq. 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  55. 
Clement  of  Rome,  46,  49,  53. 
Coleridge,  his  definition  of  reason, 
562. 
on  the  English  Bible,  611, 
his   definition  of   imagination, 
624. 
Conclusion  of  a  sermon,  427,  et  seq. 
advantages  of  a  good,  428. 


different  parts  of  the,  430. 
stereotyped  forms  of  appeal  in 
the,  441. 
Controversy,  sometimes  inevitable, 

575.  689. 
Coquerel,  Athanase,  "  OI>set-jations 
pratiques  suria  Fiedication,"'i. 
on  the  peroration,  434. 
on  pulpit  oratory.  480. 
his  requisites  of  an  extempore 

preacher,  502. 
on  the  benefits  of  friendly  crit- 
icism, 646,  et  seq. 
Cotton,  John,  230. 
Cousin,  Victor,  617,  620. 
Covvles,  "  Hebrew  History,"  21. 
Critic,  qualities  of  the  true,  637. 
Criticism,  rhetorical,  635,  et  seq. 

of  sermons,  645. 
Cyprian,  77. 

B 

Daille,  Jean,  185. 

' '  Traites  de  I'Eglise  de  V Empire 
des  saincts  peres"  315. 
Damiani,  St.  Peter,  133. 
Darwinism,  472. 
Davies,  Samuel,  241. 
Day,  Prof.  H.  N.,  "  Rhetoric,"  3. 

quoted,  352,  623,  652,  720. 
Delivery  of  a  sermon,  the  deepest 

sources  of  a  good,  653. 

spiritual  qualities  of,  655. 
Demosthenes,  his  moral  power  as 
an  orator,  539. 

probably  a  raemoriter  speaker, 
491. 
De  Pressense,  4,  35,  47,  188. 
De  Quincey,  Thomas,  2,  753. 
De  Quincy,  Quatremere,  613. 
De  Ravignan,  188,  254,  271. 
Development  of  a   sermon,   398,  et 
seq. 

what  decides  the,  398. 

expository,  399. 

illustrative,  403. 


802 


INDEX. 


argumentative,  408. 

persuasive,  422. 

the  qualities  of  a  true,  423. 
Difficulties  of  preaching,  261,  et  seq 
Distinction  between  /cA^/poS  and  /.aoS, 

51- 
Division  of  a  sermon,  380,  et  seq. 
influenced  by  character  of  ser- 
mon, 381. 
the  utility  of,  383. 
number  of  divisions,  385. 
sources  and  qualities  of  divis- 
ions, 387. 
order  and  arrangement  of  di- 
visions, 394. 
Doctrine,  Christian,  687. 
Doddridge,  Philip,  3,  205. 
Donne,  Dr.,  190. 
Du  Bosc,  Pierre,  185. 
Du  Moulin,  177, 
Dwight,  Dr.,  3,   227. 

E 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  sermons  of,  3. 

as  a  preacher,  228,  494,  570. 

"  The  Nature  of  True  Virtue," 
615. 
Elegance  of  style,  the  sources  of, 

793- 

Eliot,  John,  the"  Apostle  to  the  In- 
dians," 226. 

Elocution,  652,  et  seq. 

Eloquence,  its  relation  to  rhetoric, 

534- 
definition  of,  534,  et  seq. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  614,  625. 
Emmons,  Dr.,  sermons  of,  3. 
as  a  preacher,  234,  452. 
his  introductions,  336. 
Emotions,  preaching  to  the,  270,  et 

seq. 
Emphasis,  665. 
Energy  of  style,  773,  et  seq. 
means  of  attaining,  774. 
the  result  of  the  action  of  all 
the  powers,  788. 


what  the  chief  source  of  energy 

in  the  preacher,  792. 
English    literature,   the    preacher's 

familiarity  with,  594. 
its  great  epochs,  597. 
English  philology,  600,  et  seq. 
Erasmus,  154,  395. 
Erckhardt,  118. 
Euphony,  725. 
Evidences,  the  Christian,  preaching 

upon  the,  689. 
Experience,  Christian,  as  a  subject 

of  preaching,  7x8. 
Explanation   of  a   sermon,  353,  et 

seq. 
the  materials  and    sources   of, 

359- 
the  qualities  of,  365. 
Exposition  of  a  sermon,  356. 
Expository  preaching,  399. 

two   kinds   of  expository   ser- 
mons, 399. 
reasons  of  ill  success  in,  448. 
Extempore  preaching,  497,  et  seq. 
the  ancient  method,  498. 
the  definition  of,  508. 
the  advantages  of,  509. 
practical  suggestions  in  regard 
to,  515. 

F 

Faith,    the    true    preaching    power, 

544- 

Faucheur,  Michel,  introduction   of 
a  sermon  by,  350. 

Faults  of  preaching,  266,  et  seq. 

Fen^lon,      "  Dialogues      on     Elo- 
quence," 3. 
sermons  of,  4.      ' 
as  a  preacher,  188. 

Figures  of  speech,  rules  for,  785. 

Fine  writing,  criticised,  763. 

Finney,  Dr.,  500. 

Fitch,  Dr.  Eleazer  T.,  his  concep- 
tion of  a  sermon,  450. 

Form  of  the  sermon,  464. 


INDEX. 


803 


Foster,  John,  212,  256. 

Francis,  St.,  of  Assisi,  139. 

Francke,  155. 

Freeman,    E.  A.,    "History  of   the 

Norman  Conquest,"  601. 
French  pulpit,  170,  et  seq. 

preachers  of  the  Reformed,  172, 
et  seq. 
Frobisher,    "  Voice    and    Action," 

660. 
Froude,  142. 
Fuller,  Andrew,  212. 
Fuller,  Thomas,  460. 

et 

German  pulpit,  154,  et  seq. 

the  characteristics  of  the,  156. 
Goethe,  606,  627,  634,  790. 
Gospel,  as  the  subject  of  Christian 

preaching,  32. 
Gould,  Edward,  "Good  English," 

661. 
Gregory  of  Nyssa,  89. 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  85. 
Guthrie,  Dr.  Thomas,  221,  493 

H 

Hagenbach,    Dr.,     " Liturgik    und 
Homiletik"  4. 
quoted,  155,  508. 
Hall,  Dr.  John,  523. 
Hall,  Robert,  sermons  of,  3. 
on  the  ministry,  14. 
as  a  preacher,  213,  et  seq. 
his  method   of  making  a   ser- 
mon, 279. 
Hamilton,  Sir  William,  xxiv,  577, 

578. 
Hare,  Archdeacon,  221. 
Harmony  of  style,  727. 
Harms,  Claus,  testimony  in  regard 

to  use  of  texts,  296. 
Hase,  on  Chrysostom,  95. 
Henke,  4,  441. 

Herbert,   Edward,   Lord,  on    style, 
772. 


Hermeneutics,  Biblical,  302. 
Hervey,  G.  W.,  "  Christian  Rheto- 
ric," 3. 
Hilarius,  103. 
Hill,  A.  S.,  3. 
Hippolytus,  76. 
Historical  sermon,  404. 
History  of  preaching,  13,  et  seq. 

the  richest  and  the  most  barren 
ages  in  the,  18. 

lessons  to  be  drawn  from  the, 
241. 
Homilies,  the  earliest,  8. 
Homiletics,  its  literature,  i. 

defined,  9. 
Homily,  defined,  6. 
Hooker,  Richard,  as  a  preacher,  190. 
Hopkins,  Dr.  Samuel,  494. 
Horace,  "De  Arte  Poetica,"  i. 
Howe,  John,  sermons  of,  3. 

as  a  preacher,  198,  628. 
Howson,  Dean,  35. 
Hyacinthe,  Pere,  iSS. 


Ideal  sermon,  426. 

Illustrative  development  of  sermon, 

403. 
Illustrations,  their  use  in  preaching, 

405- 
Imager)',  Protestant  pulpit  deficient 

in,  784. 
Imagination,  the  use  of  by  preach- 
ers, 624. 
moral  uses  of  the,  625. 
Intellectual  element,  not  to  be  lost 

from  preaching,  453. 
Interpretation,  the  groundwork  of 
true  preaching,  114,  248,  320. 
of  the  Old  Testament,  325. 
Introduction  of  a  sermon,  334,  et  seq. 
defined,  338. 
the  necessity  of,  339. 
the   objects   to  be   gained  by, 

341. 
the  qualities  of  a  good,  344. 


8o4 


INDEX. 


the    sources    of    introductions, 
350. 
Irving,  Edward,  221,  275,  628. 
Itinerant  preaching  friars,  117. 


Jerome,  103. 

Johnson,  Dr.,  on  action,  667. 

on  style,  772. 
Judaism,  its  relations  to  Christian 
preaching,  26. 

K 

Kidder,  "Treatise  on  Homiletics," 

3,  392- 
Kingsley,  Charles,  221. 
Klein,  ^'Die  Beredsamkeit  des  Geist- 

Uchen"  4. 
Krummacher,  155. 


Lacordaire,  4. 
Language,    the    study    of    by    the 
preacher,  583,  et  seq. 
origin  and  definition  of,  584. 
grammatical  properties  of,  730. 
Latimer,  Hugh,  sermons  of,  3. 

as  a  preacher,  151,  579. 
Law,  the  relations  of  the  Law  to  the 
Gospel,  703,  et  seq. 
the  preaching  of  the,  714. 
Lay-preaching,  xxvi. 
Lecky,  "  History  of  European  Mor- 
als," 26,  6g6, 
Le  Faucheur,  Michel,  185,  350. 
Leighton,  Abp.,  sermons  of,  3. 

referred  to,  747. 
Lentz,   "Gesckichte   der  Chtistlichen 

Homilctik"  4. 
Liberal  religion,  its  influence  upon 

preaching,  240. 
Liddon,  Canon,  sermons  of,  3,  221. 
Literary  power  in  sermons,  468. 
Logic,  in  the  pulpit,  456,  et  seq.,  570, 
581. 


Luther,  on  being  ordained  a  preach- 
er, xxxii. 

the  sermons  of,  4. 

upon  Paul's  preaching,  37. 

his  learning  and  acquisitions, 
143- 

the  Reformation  carried  on 
chiefly  by  his  preaching,  144. 

form  of  his  sermons,  146. 

his  homiletics,  154. 

his  advice  to  young  preachers, 
276. 

on  bringing  a  sermon  to  an 
end,  428. 

his  conclusions,  440. 

his  vehement  action,  667. 

his  praise  of  good  speaking,  773. 

unique  source  of  his  energy,  791. 

in 

Macaulay,  his  antithetic  style,  779. 

Marheinecke,  "Grutidlage  der  Hotn- 
iletik,"  4. 

Marsh,  "  English  Language  and 
Early  Literature,"  593,  595, 
607. 

Mason,  Dr.,  his  remarks  on  exposi- 
tory preaching,  403. 

Massillon,  sermons  of,  4. 
as  a  preacher,  187. 
quoted,  525. 

Masson,  Prof.,  his  classification  of 
English  literature,  597. 

Mather,  Cotton,  231. 

Maurice,  F.  D.,  xxxiii.;  221,  682. 

Maury,  I'Abbe,  "Essai  sur  felo- 
quence  de  la  ckaire,"  3,  367. 

Mayhew,  Jonathan,  227. 

McCheyne,  221,  253. 

Mcllvaine,  on  elocution,  503,  653, 
658,  665,  668. 

McLeod,  Norman,  221. 

Mediaeval  preaching,  the  character- 
istics of,  134,  et  seq. 

Melanchthon,  144,  154. 

Melville,  Henry,  3,  221. 


INDEX. 


80: 


Memoriter  sermons,  491,  et  seq. 
Merivale,  on  Augustine,  11 1. 
Mestrezat,  Jean,  1S5. 
Metaphor,  the  use  of,  781. 
Metaphysical  sermon,  446. 
Metaphysics,  xxiii.,  454. 
Michelet,  143,  145. 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  475,  6S2,  734. 
Mlnistrj',   the   Christian   not  given 

to  angels,  xvii. 
Monod,  Jean,  3,  64S. 
Moore,  "  Thoughts  on  Preaching," 

3,  10,  289,  658. 
Morality,  Christian,  691,  et  seq. 
Moral  reform,  the  preaching  on,  702, 

et  seq. 
Moral  truth,  the  preacher's  relations 

to,  xxvi. 
Mosheim,  3,  155. 

Moule,  "  Christian  Oratory,"  4,  113. 
Mozley,  Canon,  3,  221. 
Miiller,  Jul.,  4,  156. 
Miiller,  Max,  5,  590, 
Mullois,  I'Abbe,  662, 

Natural  theology,  690. 

Neale,  "  Mediaeval   Preaching,"  4, 

137- 
Neander,  quoted,  xvii,  xxvii. 

on  the  choice  of  presbyters,  46. 
on  Tertullian,  56. 
on   the  preaching  of  the  third, 
fourth,  and  fifth  centuries,  70. 
on  reading  the  Scriptures,  83. 
on  Gregory  Nazianzen,  85. 
his  remarks  upon  Chrysostom, 
94.  95.  544 
Niedner,  "  Lehrbiich  der  Christlichen 

Kirchen  Gesch."  96. 
Newman,  J.  H.,  sermons  of,  3,  221. 
his  introductions,  338. 
his  style,  76S. 
Newton,  John,  205, 
Nitzsch,  4,  155. 


O 

Oberlin,  xxx. 

Object  of  preaching,  243,  et  seq. 

Oratory,  demands   the   direct  style, 

77S. 
Origen,  his  influence  on  preaching, 

59- 
as  a  preacher,  72. 
his  threefold   method   of  inter- 
pretation, 75. 
Originality,  in  what  it  consists,  679, 

et  seq. 
Ornament  in  writing,  should  be  of 

a  vital  or  organic  kind,  794. 
Otto,  "  Ev.  Prak.  Tkeologie,"  6,  355. 


Palmer,  "  Ev.  Homiletik"  4,  292. 
Paniel,  "  Geschichte  der  Christlichen 
Beredsamkeit,"  V.  i.,  19,  27,  44, 
56,  61,  64,  75,  80,  92. 
Parables,  the  treatment  of,  331. 
Park,  Prof.  Edwards  A.,  169,  236. 
Parker,  Theodore,  241. 
Pathos,  7S6. 
Patristic  period,  as  a  field  of  homi- 

letical  study,  113. 
Patteson,  John  Coleridge,  256. 
Paul  the  apostle,  the  preaching  of, 
37. 
emphatically      the       preacher 

among  the  apostles,  40. 
his  reasoning,  459,  571. 
his  recognition  of  the  aesthetic 
principle  of"  propriety,"  617. 
Pericles,  referred  to,  744. 

his  style  as  an  orator,  78S. 
Persuasion,  the  element  of  in  preach- 
ing, 252,  578. 
the  motives  of,  416,  eiseq. 
Persuasive   development  of  a  ser- 
mon, 413. 
Perspicuity  of  style,  756,  et  seq. 
how  violated,  757. 
means  of  attaining,  758. 
models  of,  760. 


8o6 


INDEX. 


Peter,  the  apostle,  the  preaching  of, 

36. 
Plan  of  a   sermon,  its   true    place 

and  object,  283. 
a  general    plan   in    preaching, 

476.  ■ 
Plato,   his    conception    of  rhetoric, 

530. 
mental  idea  of  beauty,  620. 
Political  preaching,  699. 
Postils,  116. 
Preacher,  an  ambassador  of  God, 

XV, 

his  authority,  xx. 
the  results  of  his  work,  xxix. 
his  distinction   from   the  plat- 
form-speaker, 550. 
Preaching,  the  greatness  of  the  work 

of,  XV. 

defined,  9. 

the   different   scriptural   terms 

for,  9. 
an  expression  of  the   spirit  of 

an  age,  13. 
the  permanent  and  the  variable 

elements  of,  14. 
what  would  be  required  in  the 

history  of,  17. 
pre-apostolic,  19. 
not  the  main  instrumentality  of 

the  Old  Dispensation,  24. 
of  Christ  and  of  the  apostles, 

2-],  et  seq. 
rise  of  the  institution  of  preach- 
ing in  the  apostolic  church, 

40. 
the  historic  head-springs  of,  42. 
the  office  of  in  the  early  church, 

45- 
its  influence  on  the  first  period 

of  Christianity,  47. 
the  three  kinds  of  preaching  in 

the  early  church,  49. 
of  the   third,   fourth,  and  fifth 

centuries,  58,  et  seq. 
of  the  Reformation,   150.  ' 


of  the  later  Reformed  churches, 

152. 
ethical  preaching,  691,  697. 
political,  699. 
of  the  law,  703. 

the  true  preaching  of  the  gos- 
pel, 716. 
Precision  of  style  ;   how  violated, 

751. 
Prescott,  William,  722,  747. 
Prophesying,  42. 

Origan's  idea  of  its  continuing 
in  the  church,  62. 
Prophet,  of  Old  Testament,  20. 
schools  of  the  prophets,  20. 
meaning  of,  22. 
Proposition  of  a  sermon,  368,  et  seq. 
place  of  the,  369. 
significance  of  the,  371. 
substance   and    matter  of  the, 

373- 
the  structure  and  qualities  of 
the,  376. 
Propriety  of  style,  749. 
Pulpit,  the  best  style  for  the,  760, 

et  seq. 
Purity  of  style,  740. 
how  violated,  741, 
how  preserved,  746. 

Quackenbos,  "  Rhetoric,"  612. 
Quintilian,  "Institutes,"  i. 

upon  the  coming  orator,  480. 

on  oratorical  memory,  491. 

his  conception  of  rhetoric,  531. 

the  relative  influence  of  learn- 
ing and  nature  in  the  orator, 

549- 
on  imitation,  559. 
the    character   of    Quintilian's 

work  on  rhetoric,  560. 
on  the  voice,  663. 
on  the  use  of  artificial  figures, 

785. 
his  classification  of  style,  794. 


INDEX. 


807 


Reasoning,  its  uses  to  the  preacher, 
561,  et  seq. 
cautions  in  the  use  of,  580. 
Reed,  Henry,  611. 
Reinhard,  4,  155. 

his    preference    of    memoriter 
preaching,  493. 
Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  621. 
Rhetoric,  defined,  526. 
ancient  ideas  of,  527. 
modern  ideas  of,  532. 
something     more     than    mere 

skill,  546. 
the  uses  and  sources  of,  546. 
objections  to  the  study  of  an- 
swered,  547. 
Ripley,  "  Sacred  Rhetoric,"  2. 
Robertson,   F.  W.,  his  characteris- 
tics as  a  preacher,  221. 
his  introductions,  336. 
his  conclusions,  436. 
Ruskin,  614,  634. 

S 

Siurin,  sermons  of,  4. 

as  a  preacher,  170. 
Savonarola,  as  a   preacher,  124,  et 
seq. 

his    so-called    prophetic     gift, 
129. 
Schaff,  Dr.,  112. 
Schiller,  457,  616,  629. 
Schleiermacher,  sermons  of,  4,  155. 

as  a  preacher,  157. 

an  ethical  preacher,  163. 

an  extempore  preacher,  164. 

his  plans  of  sermons,  377. 
Schott,  '' Theorie  der  Beredsamkeit" 

4- 
Science,    an   aid   to   the    preacher, 
362. 
in  the  pulpit,  471. 
Scriptures,  reading  of  the,  664. 
Sensational  preaching,  269,  572. 


Sermon,  defined,  11. 

length  of,  274. 

hints  for  composing,  280. 

against  repeating  old  sermons, 
490. 
Shakespeare,  his  uses  to  the  preach- 
er, 604. 

quoted,  250,  500,  608. 

his  language,  608. 
Shedd,  Dr.,  3,  277. 
Shepard,  Prof.,  on  written  sermons, 

485- 
Sherlock,  Dean,  206. 
Simile,  employment  of  the,  783. 
"  Simplicity,"   this  term  how  used 

in  the  scriptures,  549. 
Skinner,  Dr.  Thomas,  upon  a  spirit- 
ual delivery,  671. 
"Slang,"  743. 
Smith,  Sydney,  4S3,  486. 
Socrates,  an  oral  teacher,  24. 
South,  Robert,  sermons  of,  3. 

quoted,  xxii.,  xxiii.,  xxv. 

as  a  preacher,  190. 

his  introductions,  335. 

as  a  moral  reasoner,  458. 
Speaking  with  tongues,  42. 
Spener,  155. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  2,  696,  776,  782. 
Spurgeon,  Charles,  221,  276. 
Stanley,  Dean,  221. 
Stiebitz,  "Gesch.  der  Fredigt,"  ^. 
Stier,    Rudolph,   "  Grundriss  einer 
Bib.  Keryktik,"  4. 

sermons  of,  156. 
Stiles,  Ezra,  227. 
Storrs,     R.     S.,    upon     extempore 

preaching,  506. 
Style,  defined,  720. 

absolute  properties  of,  724,  et 
seq. 

relative   properties   of,    733,  et 
seq, 

subjective  qualities  of,  734. 

the  significance  of,  734. 

individuality  of,  737. 


8o8 


INDEX. 


objective   qualities    of,  739,  et 

seq. 
a     prose    in    contradistinction 
from  a  poetic,  770. 
Subject,  qualities  of  the  true,  677. 
Suso,  Henry,  118. 
Sympathy,  the  element  of  in  preach- 
ing, 161. 


Taine,  Henri,  600. 
Taste,  in  preaching,  612. 
the  principles  of,  628. 
how  to  cultivate  the,  633. 
Tauler,  the  preaching  of,  118. 
Taylor,  Jeremy,  sermons  of,  3. 
as  a  preacher,  194. 
his  imagination,  627. 
Taylor,  Dr.  Nathaniel,  241,  451. 
Tertullian,  as  a  preacher,  55. 
Text,  defined,  288. 

objections  to  the  use  of,  290. 
design  and  advantages  of  the 

use  of,  294. 
principles  to  guide  in  the  choice 

of,  297,  et  seq. 
an  accommodated,  314. 
practical     suggestions   for   the 
handling  and    interpretation 
of  texts,  320,  et  seq. 
the  classification  of  texts,  321. 
Textual  sermon,  defined,  464. 
Textual  and  topical  sermons  com- 
pared, 465. 
Theology  dependent  on  philosophy, 
xxiv. 
the   study  of,  indispensable  to 
the  preacher,  451. 
Theological  sermon,  449. 
Theremin,  his  conception  of  rhet- 
oric, 538, 
his  theory  that  eloquence  is  a 

virtue,  540. 
upon  eloquence  in  its  relation 
to  taste,  623. 
Tholuck,  sermons  of,  4. 


as  a  preacher,  167,  et  seq. 

plan  of  a  sermon,  377. 
Tillotson,  Abp.,  3,  482. 
Tongues,  the  gift  of,  42. 
Trench,  Dean,  5. 
Truth,  to  be  clearly  presented,  581. 

Christian   truth  the  subject  of 
preaching,  684,  et  seq. 

U 

Ueberweg,  the  distinction  between 
analytic  and  synthetic  judg- 
ments, 562. 

Upham,  "  Interior  Life,"  552. 


Van  der  Palm,  153. 

Van  Oosterzee,  6,  455. 

Variety  in  preaching,  477. 

Vieyra,     Antonio,     upon    style    in 

preaching,  764. 
Vinet,  Alexandre,  on  the  true  mys- 
ticism, xxvii. 

definition  of  "  sermon,"  11. 

on  the  use  of  texts,  290. 

on  the  unity  of  the  text,  329. 

quoted,  443,  784,  796. 
Voice,  the  cultivation  of  the,  657. 

Ware,  Henry,  "  Hints  on  extempo- 
raneous speaking,"  2. 
quoted,  507,  510. 
Wayland,  Dr.,  582. 
Wesley,  John,  sermons  of,  3, 

as  a  preacher,  207,  et  seq.,  icf>. 
Whately,  Abp.,  "  Elements  of  Rhet- 
oric," 2. 
his  caution  as  to  classing  texts 

together,  303. 
his  conception  of  rhetoric,  538, 

556. 
his  views  of  elocution,  656. 
his  definition  of  a  periodic  sen- 
tence, 778. 


INDEX. 


809 


his  counsel  in  regard  to  style, 
796. 
White,    Richard    Grant,    638,    731, 

743. 
Whitefield,  as  a  preacher,  210. 
Whitney,  W.  D.,  586. 
Whittier,  210. 
Williams,  Roger,  227. 
Woolsey,  T.  D.,  712. 
Worship,   the   first  assemblies   for 

Christian  worship,  41. 
Written  sermons,  481,  et  seq. 


Wyclif,  John,  sermons  of,  3. 
as  a  preacher,  119. 


Young,  "  Christ  in  history,"  686. 

Z 

Zincke,  his  method   of  extempore 

preaching,  2,  504. 
Zollikoffer,  4,  155. 
Zvvingli,  4,  150. 


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